The Girl With The Cipher Tattoo
by Akumokagetsu
Summary: It's been one whole year since the Pines twins have been to Gravity Falls, and a lot seems to have changed. The quiet little town hides more secrets than Dipper and Mabel could have anticipated, and someone (or something) desperately wants them gone. A strange girl with mysterious tattoos keeps cropping up, and the deeper that they dig the further down the rabbit hole they get...
1. Chapter 1

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Gravity Falls was a quiet sort of place.

Usually.

Birds chirruped amongst the branches of the tall, looming pine trees. Nary a cloud was in sight, and the shadows cast from the evening sun stretched over the roads lazily. The bus noisily trundling down the road held only a couple of newly teenage passengers, both of which seemed equal parts excited and exhausted. The drive from California to Gravity Falls, Oregon had been a long one, and Dipper rubbed his eyes tiredly as he sat with a journal open on his lap with a slightly chewed pen tucked behind one ear.

"We're almost there, Dip...!" Mabel was practically bouncing in her seat, her hair sticking up in odd places from where she'd fallen asleep. She stared out at the welcoming sign indicating their arrival to Gravity Falls, causing her to bounce even faster, the sleeping pig beside her utterly unbothered by the motion or noise.

"Yes, I know Mabel," Dipper scratched his head beneath Wendy's dog eared hat, unable to keep the grin off of his face.

"What we've been waiting all year for!" she stood up and wobbled as the bus bounced along. "Oh my pretty giddy diddly gosh, we're almost _there!_ "

"Mabel, I _know,_ " he laughed at her antics as she leaned over the seat to watch the road drift away behind them. "You've had hourly freakouts for the last five hours."

"How's that replacement journal thingie of yours coming?" Mabel asked distractedly, brushing her long hair from her face.

Dipper glanced down at the poorly illustrated image of the Gremloblin, coupled with a lengthy descriptor of the creature, and furrowed his brows. It wasn't even close to the artistic capacity of his Great Uncle Ford, but he was fairly certain that he'd recorded as much from memory as he possibly could. Ever since the destruction of the original three journals of all things incredible in the sleepy town of Gravity Falls, Dipper had taken it upon himself to rerecord everything that he possibly could. Of course, he didn't have a photographic memory, though he desperately wished that he did, and there were plenty of holes that bothered him.

Then again, returning to Gravity Falls might help fill in some of the blanks on his journal.

"... Bro?"

"What's up, Mabel?"

"You've been grimacing like a constipated gargoyle for, like, a whole minute. You okay?"

"Fine, fine," he laughed and shook his head, closing the book. "Just thinking."

"Well, try not to do that too much," Mabel stood in her seat excitedly. "Because we're _friggin' here, baby! Whoo!"_

The single bench that served as a bus station slowly rose into view as the bus pulled in, and Dipper noted the beaten up red car that Grunkle Stan drove sitting not too far away. The bus finally came to a rolling stop in front it, and their great uncle Stanley stood with his cane with an eight ball attached to the end, grinning from ear to unshaven ear.

"There ya are, you little rascals," he laughed as Mabel gigglingly hugged him back around the stomach, Waddles running in circles around them. "And here I thought I was finally rid of you nuisances once and for all."

"If only we could be so lucky," Dipper couldn't help but grin, tucking his book away into his backpack.

"Hey, don't think you're getting away so easy!" Grunkle Stan chuckled, pulling Dipper under his arm and giving him a quick noogie. "C'mon, punks; Ford decided that it isn't 'fair' or 'legal' to allow me to cook for anyone but myself, so we've got a special treat for ya back at the Shack. And by that I mean pizza because the canned meat that I cooked sort of, uh, caught fire. Like, a lot."

Mabel whooped and picked up her pig, following Grunkle Stan to his car as the bus ever so slowly pulled away, but something caught Dipper's attention just out of the corner of his eye. There, just a fraction of a second before he could look at it, he snagged a glimpse of something dark and blue rustling in one of the bushes. His heart hammered for a second and he stared at the empty spot. Something had _definitely_ been watching them. More likely than not it was probably just some frightened animal or something. He tried to shake off the uneasy feeling hanging on the back of his neck, and he frowned.

Then again, this was Gravity Falls.

Things were never that simple.

0-0-0-0-0

Dipper stared up at the ceiling, hands behind his head as he thought.

Today had been a memorable day. They got to catch up with their great uncles about their adventures on the ocean. Soos had filled them in about the goings on in Gravity Falls (although it mainly pertained to the Mystery Shack, which he now ran) and told them of the oddities he'd personally added to the Shack's collection. Dipper had even gotten to see Wendy again, his heart jackhammering so loudly that he was afraid that she would hear it, but miraculously she seemed to have not noticed. All in all, it had been a fun evening. And yet, something still bothered him.

"Alright, Dip Dip," he heard Mabel from her bed opposite him, the moonlight pooling in through the window. Waddles was snoring quietly at the foot of Mabel's bed, his little legs sticking up in the air. "What's keeping you up?"

"Who said anything was keeping me up?" he asked distractedly.

"Bro. You've been chewing on that pen for the last ten minutes, I can _hear_ you gnawing."

"It's just..." he thought for a moment. "I thought that I saw something when we got off the bus is all."

"Is _that_ it?" she scoffed, rolling around to face him. "Dip, it was probably just a gnome or something. Or a bear! Or a gnome-bear hybrid because they decided to cross breed! Or a demented cultist! Or cross breed cultists! Or _aliens!_ Or cross breed alien cultists! _"_

"I'm pretty sure it's not any of those things," Dipper rolled his eyes, rubbing his temples. "But, yeah, it was probably just an animal scared by the bus."

"See?" Mabel cast her hands up in the air, waving them. "The Mabes is always right. I have a seventh sense for this kind of thing."

Dipper paused, glancing over at his sister.

"Wait, don't you mean _sixth_ sense?"

"Dipper," Mabel said seriously. "I have eaten literally so much candy in my lifetime that I can taste colors now. I do mean seventh sense."

Dipper only laughed and threw a pillow at her.

"Good night, Mabel."

"G'night, Dip."

The whole night through, Dipper still couldn't shake the feeling that there was someone, or something, watching.

0-0-0-0-0

Dipper yawned as he trudged down the creaky stairs in shorts and a tee shirt, scratching his head as he descended into the kitchen. Soos had not yet arrived, and from what he had told them the night previously he was almost always there just at sunrise to open up the shop, but for some reason he appeared to be later than usual. The scent of fresh eggs and coffee greeted him, and he was surprised to see his great uncle Ford in his usual tan field coat with elbow patches whistling as he flipped the eggs expertly into the air, letting them land with a loud sizzle.

"Good morning, great uncle Ford," Dipper stifled another yawn, taking a seat at the kitchen table.

"Good morning to you too, Dipper!" Ford caught the flying eggs with an empty plate, adorning it with bacon and toast.

"Wow," Dipper blinked in surprise. "That was... pretty impressive, even for you."

"Well, I don't like to brag," Ford grinned at him behind his too large glasses. "But Stanley is probably the worst cook I've ever met. _Somebody_ had to learn, eh?"

"He's lying," Dipper's great uncle Stanford shuffled into the room in his house slippers and wearing no more than a dirty white shirt with his boxers. "He _loves_ to brag, so I hope you're prepared to listen to _this_ schmuck all summer."

Ford only snorted and passed him a full plate, which Grunkle Stan grinned at and thanked him for.

"Don't listen too much to Stanley, Dipper," Ford warned him with a small smirk. "When you're hippity-hip and coolio, you're coolio. Which on secon thought seems like a redundant statement." he paused, thinking. "That is the right terminology for current youths, am I correct? Coolio?"

Grunkle Stan only laughed, pouring himself some coffee.

"I've been showing him commercials from the nineties," he informed the very confused Dipper, who had yet to touch his breakfast.

"Dark times," Dipper shuddered.

"Dark times indeed," Grunkle Stan nodded once, glancing to Ford. "Be glad that you missed that part in history."

"Well, excuse me," Ford rolled his eyes and took a seat opposite his twin brother. "I was busy saving the world at the time, I didn't have time for youngster lingo."

"That's something I've been meaning to ask you about, great uncle Ford..." Dipper started as Mabel sleepily wandered into the kitchen, dropping into a seat and letting her head _clunk_ against the table. "I have a _ton_ of questions that I never got to ask you about the other dimension that you were in before Grunkle Stan brought you back!"

"Did-did I do that?" Grunkle Stan froze, looking between the two.

It was dead silent in the kitchen for a moment, and even Mabel looked up.

Ever since the incident with Bill Cipher, Grunkle Stan's memory had been... patchy. The memory erasing ray had done a real number on him. He remembered bits and pieces, but sometimes whole chunks of his memory would be missing, and no amount of retelling of tales or scrapbook pictures would help. Dipper hated moments like that, unable to help in any way. He hated feeling helpless to his great uncle's condition.

"It was just before Bill tried destroying the universe," Dipper said at last, breaking the awkward quiet. "You and great uncle Ford wiped him out of existence."

Grunkle Stan only stared at him for a moment.

"... Ha!" he laughed aloud at last, turning to Ford. "Guess you're not the only one who can put 'saved the universe' on his resume, eh?"

"I guess you've got me there," Ford only smiled and shook his head, but Dipper could detect the hidden sadness lingering on his features for just a moment.

"I'm just messin' with ya," Grunkle Stan chuckled. "Pffft. _Resume._ Like I actually have one of those."

He paused for another second as he glanced down at the nearly sleeping form of Mabel, who hadn't said a word the entire time.

"... Mabel?" he asked at last, taking a sip of his coffee. "You, uh, okay there sweetie?"

Mabel jerked up at the sound of her name, eyes bloodshot.

"What?" she blearily whipped her head around. "Where's the fire?"

"You fell asleep Mabel," Dipper frowned. "Also you have some egg in your hair."

Mabel chewed on her hair for a moment and nodded in agreement, but said nothing.

"Are you alright?" Dipper asked awkwardly. "You look... uh..."

"Terrible," Grunkle Stan finished for him. "What he's tryin' to say is that you look terrible."

"Didn't sleep much," Mabel gave a weak half shrug. It unnerved Dipper, to see someone who was always so full of energy no matter what, someone who had for the past thirteen years of his life been a focal point of radiance and joy just have all the life completely sucked out of her.

"Probably just from being back after so long," Ford patted her kindly on the head. However, Dipper still felt a strong sense of unease the longer that she simply stared down at her breakfast that he couldn't seem to shake off. He eventually tucked it away in the back of his mind, convincing himself that his wiser great uncle was correct.

If only things were that simple.

The sparse few moments of silence were interrupted by the crashing of breaking glass, and everyone froze.

"Waddles!" Mabel shrieked suddenly, tearing out of the room and bounding up the stairs two at a time. Dipper was right behind her, surprised by her sudden burst of speed. He could hear his uncles clambering up the steps behind him, but they made it to the source of the noise long before their uncles did. Waddles seemed to be completely uninjured, but was cowering in the corner of their bedroom, shattered glass from the window all over the floor. In the midst of the glass was a large stone covered with paper and a rubber band. Dipper stole a glance out the window to see if he could find the perpetrator, but found no one.

"What is it?" Ford burst into their bedroom, observing the carnage. "What happened?"

"I-I think somebody threw a _rock_ through our window..." Mabel picked up the heft stone, baffled.

"There's a note attached," Dipper pointed out, pulling the slip of paper out and unfolding it. He read it and reread it just to ensure that he missed nothing, but it remained just as plain as could be.

"What's it say?" Ford peered over his shoulder.

"... Leave Gravity Falls," Dipper said with a slightly shaking voice. "This is your last warning. That's all they wrote."

"Alright!" Grunkle Stan burst in with a rifle in his arms, alarming them all. "Who's the punk that caused property damage?!"

"They must have run off just after throwing his," Ford held up the rock with a frown.

"Who would want us out of Gravity Falls?" Mabel rubbed her eyes again, brows furrowed.

"I'm open to suggestions..." Dipper shrugged.

"Well, Gideon and his family left town," Mabel hypothesized aloud, pacing as she carefully avoided the glass to prevent cutting her bare feet. "I'm pretty sure Robby isn't still mad at us after he finally hooked up with Tambry. Maybe the gnomes came back for revenge?"

Ford _hmm'd_ and held his six fingered hand over his mouth, thinking.

"Those are all valid points. The Gleeful family hasn't been around for nearly a year," he nodded in agreement with Mabel. I haven't met this 'Robby' character, but I'm sure he isn't all that bad."

"Yeah right," Dipper muttered under his breath.

"And I'm positive that it wasn't the gnomes..." Ford continued.

"What' makes you say that?" Dipper blinked. "Is it because you've kept in contact with their leader? Have you been secretly watching their every move with super spy cameras or something? Have you created a temporary truce pact? Does the anti-magic barrier around the Shack prevent them from coming close?"

"No," Ford blinked. "Their arms are _super_ stubby. Have you seen those things? They couldn't lob a rock like this through a second floor window, they'd have to stand on each others shoulders just to reach that height, they'd look ridiculous."

"Not like they haven't tried that before," Dipper shook his head. "They once tried standing on each others shoulders beneath a coat to try making my sister their queen."

"... Gnomes have that level of coordination?" Ford stared at him.

"If you think _that's_ bad," Mabel interjected tiredly. "You should have seen them turn into a giant monster and try squishing us like bugs."  
"Mabel," Dipper pulled out his journal and flipped to the pages on gnomes, pen at the ready. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Um, I think so, Dip. But where are we going to get a rubber duck at this hour?"

" _No_ , Mabel," Dipper laughed. "I mean-"

"I know, I know," she chuckled. "Looks like we've got a good ol' fashioned mystery on our hands."

Then again, this was Gravity Falls.

Things were never that simple.

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A/N

I really tried to keep everyone in character for the story.

Just something I whipped up. Might continue if anyone actually likes it.


	2. Chapter 2

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It was a relatively quiet morning after the incident with the warning message.

Dipper and Mabel helped Soos to open up the Mystery Shack for business, and Wendy arrived shortly after on her bike. The rumble of thunder above and the gray clouds pregnant with condensation promised of rain, and the air was practically crackling with energy. Dipper tried to ignore the way that she whipped her head to toss her red hair gracefully as she removed her helmet, sweat beading on his forehead. She even pulled his old pine tree cap out from her backpack and nestled it atop her head, and Dipper got a strange feeling in his stomach from watching her.

"... You just gonna stand there, dude?" she asked him at last, and Dipper flushed, realizing that he'd been standing directly in front of the doorway.

"Of-of course not!" he laughed nervously, holding the door open for Wendy. "Sorry, sorry, I-I was just thinking is all."

"Yeah, I try not to do that too much anymore," she shrugged and pulled him into a loose hug, and Dipper let out an awkward chuckle. "Man, it's just so cool to have you guys back."

Thankfully, Soos arrived to break the tension, adjusting his hat as he entered the gift shop.

"What's up, dudes?" he gave a toothy grin to them as Wendy took her place behind the register, absentmindedly rifling through a copy of 'Pretending To Be Nonchalant; For Teens' and giving Soos a half wave.

"I wondered where you went to, Soos," Dipper said with a hint of relief that the tension was broken. Besides, what exactly was he supposed to even _tell_ her?

"Hey, somebody had to fix that window," Soos readjusted his cap with a determined stare. "And if there's one guy that's made for fixin' stuff, it's, uh... me. Dude, that sounded so much better in my head."

"What happened to the window?" Wendy asked distractedly.

"Somebody threw a rock with a warning to leave Gravity Falls," Dipper explained quickly. Wendy suddenly froze in her seat, her expression going completely blank. The next moment the look was gone, and Dipper confusedly held onto that memory.

"Can't imagine why they didn't just knock," Soos began sweeping up the gift shop, switching around the open sign.

"I've been thinking..." Dipper started, pacing in a small circle.

"About love, death and the meaning of life?" Soos blinked. "Because, dude, I think about that kind of thing all the time. I'm pretty sure that the answer is, like, _definitely_ a number."

"No, no," he shook his head. "I mean, who would want us out of Gravity Falls? I mean, they broke our window; it could have been _any_ other window in this place, and they chose our room. Plus, I could have _sworn_ that there was somebody watching us when we got off the bus yesterday."

Wendy made a humming noise, her hand over her mouth.

"Dude," she started slowly. "Don't take this the wrong way, but... maybe you're being a little... paranoid?"

Dipper suddenly felt like the bottom had dropped out of his stomach.

"What?" he balked at her. "Wendy, someone chucked a rock through the window with a _threat_ attached!"

"A threat, or a warning?"

"W-well," Dipper faltered, frowning. "I mean, _technically_ there was no threat-"

"So maybe it was just some cranky gnomes or something," she shrugged again. "Those little guys are a total pain in the keister."

"You've been having problems with the gnomes too?" Soos blinked. "Because, dude, I'm _pretty_ sure those guys have been stealing underwear from me. Not a hundred percent on that one, but I have my suspicions."

"Gross," Dipper let out an uneasy laugh. Still, he couldn't quite shake the feeling that Wendy was hiding something from him, and it bothered him. They'd kept in touch through texting and phone calls the whole year that they had been gone, and nothing had _seemed_ out of place. So why was his gut fighting against him now, of all times? Wendy wasn't the type of person that would lie to him.

"... Dude?"

"Huh?" Dipper looked up.

"You okay there?" Wendy peered over her open magazine, which Dipper only then realized was upside down. "You kinda look like a constipated camel."

"I'm, uh..." he jabbed a finger over his shoulder. "I'm just gonna go check on Mabel real quick. She hasn't been feeling too hot lately."

"Oh, dude, that sucks," Wendy called after him. "Tell her I said to get better!"

Dipper meandered up the stairs slowly, his mind heavy. He could feel it prickling the back of his mind, but refused to acknowledge it. Wendy probably just had something else on her mind was all. But the face that she had made when he mentioned the note deeply bothered him, and he couldn't quite shake it away. Instead he distracted himself by checking on Mabel, who was busy decorating the room to the best of her abilities.

So far, she had added seventeen glittering cut out butterflies to her side of the room, a paper chain in a myriad of colors, six pictures of everyone together taped to the walls, and a single solitary blue balloon floating haphazardly around the room.

"Holy crap, Mabel!" Dipper stared at the progress she had made in such a short amount of time. "How-how did you get all this done in the time it took me to _walk downstairs?_ "

"Never underestimate the power of a superior decoration expert," Mabel fluffed her sweatshirt expertly, letting the bunny rabbit on the front hop with her motions. "Are you _sure_ you don't want me to do your side, too?"

"I'm pretty certain," he deadpanned, pulling out his journal from within the confines of his vest. "So, I've been thinking-"

"Careful not to let your head catch fire from that bro bro," Mabel winked at him.

"So I've been _thinking,_ " he pretended no to hear her. "Trying to figure out who threw that rock. I dusted for fingerprints, and got nowhere. I'm guessing from where it landed," he moved to the new window and pointed downward. "That from the trajectory of where it broke the window it must have come from somewhere near those bushes. It definitely wasn't thrown very hard, but hard enough to break the window. I think if we scan the area we might be able to find a clue as to who the culprit might be."

"Are you still on about that?" Mabel stared at him. "I'm telling you, it's either gnomes or alien cultists. Case closed. Pass me the glitter so I can start on your side."

"Mabel!" Dipper snapped the journal shut with irritation. "This is serious! Somebody clearly wants us out of Gravity Falls for some unknown reason-"

"Bro," Mabel hopped down from her bed, placing her hands firmly on his shoulders. "Broseph. I'm _kidding._ Let's go solve a mystery already!"

It took them hardly any time at all to reach the large bushes where Dipper theorized the rock thrower might have hidden in. They started with sequentially smaller circles around the bush until Mabel finally called him over excitedly, pointing.

"Bro! Check it out!"

"What? What is it?" he hurried over, hopeful for any sort of clue.

"Footprints. Do you think that whoever threw that rock left 'em?"

"Possibly," Dipper grinned at the prospect of finding out who it might have been. He carefully inspected the single footprint as he knelt down beside Mabel, frowning. It was a little smudged from where they had probably turned and ran, and he just barely make out the backwards imprint of the brand in the middle.

"... What?" Mabel asked. "You've got that weird 'thinking things' look on your face again."

"These are really small footprints..." Dipper mused aloud.

"Ah-HA!" Mabel shrieked, throwing her hands up in the air. "Gnomes! I called it!"

"No, no," Dipper shook his head, drawing her closer. "Look. This footprint is way too big for a gnome. It looks more like a kid's size shoe."

"Or just a woman with small feet," Mabel shrugged.

"I'm sticking with my first hypothesis," Dipper deadpanned, and Mabel blew a raspberry.

"It's totally a woman's shoe print!" she insisted, pointing at the footprint. "Look at the imprint of this sucker; that's a _woman's_ tennis shoe, I'll bet my hat on it."

"You don't wear a hat," Dipper rolled his eyes. No sooner had he said it than Mabel swiped the dog eared hat from his head, slapping it onto her own with a goofy grin.

"Mabel!" he yanked it back and jammed it over his ears.

"I'm telling you, broseidon," Mabel shifted into serious mode for a moment. "Gauging from the size of the footprint and the location of the stone, we're looking for a young woman without much upper body strength."

"Wow, that's..." Dipper stared at her for a beat. "That's oddly insightful, Mabel."

"Oh, jeez," she clapped a hand to her forehead. "Great, now I'm even starting to _sound_ like you. See how much of a bad influence you are on me?"

"So, we have no suspects, no motive, and nothing more than a footprint..." Dipper mused, scratching his chin. He pulled out his pen and began sketching the footprint into his journal, including the backwards imprint of the brand. Thunder rumbled ahead, reminding him that time was short, and thankfully he finished most of his sketch by the time rain began to pitter and patter down around them.

"Okay, so..." Mabel squeezed the water from her long brown hair as they took shelter beneath the porch, flopping onto the old patchy torn up sofa. "We've got practically nothing to go on and any more footprints that _might_ have been there just got washed away. Any ideas?"

"I've got a few," Dipper chewed the pen in the corner of his mouth. It cracked almost instantly, spraying him in the face with ink, and he scowled before tossing it away and trying to rub the ink from his face with the bottom of his shirt. "Anyway, I think the best place to start would be Gravity Falls's shoe store; maybe we can find one of these brands that matches the shoe print."

"Sounds like as good a place to start as any!" Mabel hopped off the couch, sprinting inside full speed. "HEY GRUNKLE STAN, CAN YOU DRIVE US TO TOWN SO WE CAN SOLVE A MYSTERY?!"

"Tactful as always, Mabel," Dipper shook his head slowly, following her inside.

Much to his surprise, Wendy was staring directly at him the moment that he entered, and quickly returned to her reading. He felt an odd sensation in the pit of his stomach when she looked at him, but he fought it off.

For now, they had a mystery to solve.

0-0-0-0-0

The drive into town was a short one, as Grunkle Stan didn't believe in things like 'slowing down in the rain' or 'speed limits'. They drove around for a short while, peering through the rain, but Grunkle Stan finally brought them to a stop in front of Gravity Falls's only shoe store, just off of the main street beside a little place called Cory's Comics.

"You kids know the drill, right?" Grunkle Stan looked to them both before they left the car. "In and out, no theatrics; and the _second_ that things get _weird_ , you come get me. Got it?"

"Got it," they both nodded in unison from the back seat.

"Just... be careful?" he added just before they exited.

"Grunkle Stan," Mabel said seriously. "I have been studying karate for the last four years. I'm pretty sure we won't need help, but if we do, Dipper will scream like a little girl."

"Oh, _ha ha,_ " Dipper scoffed as they approached the awning to the shoe store. "Are you ready for this, Mabel?"

"Dip, I was _born_ ready."

They entered the shoe store with a little _ding!_ of a bell above them, and a bored balding sales clerk behind a counter greeted them.

"Hi!" Mabel waved to him. "We're looking for a suspicious looking woman-"

"Mabel!" he clamped a hand over her mouth, whispering in a hushed tone. "We can't just go saying that!"

"Oh," she nodded. "Right. Let me try again.

Mabel cleared her throat, approaching the counter.

"Hi!" she said again. "We're looking for a specific type of shoe. That _might_ have been worn by a suspicious looking woman."

"We have those," the balding man said in a thick accent. "You want shoe, we have shoe. You have foot, we have shoe. No foot, no shoe for you."

"Uh... o-okay," Dipper said awkwardly, opening up the journal to show the balding man. "We're actually looking for something that matches this."

The clerk only stared at him for a moment.

"Why do you want a triangle shaped shoe?"

"Sorry, sorry!" Dipper flipped from his entry on Bill Cipher as quickly as he could, showing the clerk again. "THIS is what we're looking for."

"Ahhh," the clerk nodded once. "You want El-Garbagio shoe. Is very distinct."

"Maybe it means something else in a different language?" Mabel shrugged to Dipper.

"It means garbage shoe," the balding man deadpanned. "Very cheap, is very easy to reproduce. Lots of plastic, not built to last. You want, I sell."

"Uh, no, we're good actually," Dipper was busy writing furiously in his journal.

"Is shame," the clerk shook his head sadly. "Practically nobody wants to buy shoe."

"So, is there someone who _did_ want to buy that particular brand of shoe?" Mabel asked eagerly, standing on her tiptoes to see over the counter.

"Hmm," he scratched the bald spot on his head. "Do not remember very clearly. Perhaps I could be... _persuaded_ to remember who bought shoe."

Mabel didn't even blink.

The clerk stared at what she dropped onto the counter, which turned out to be six gummy koalas with the head of one bitten off, a piece of string, and parts of a leaf.

"I'm packin', sucka," Mabel struck what she hoped was an awesome pose.

"... Oh," the man shook his head after a moment. "I get it. Is joke."

"So why didn't you laugh?"  
"Because was not funny joke."

"Look," Dipper interjected, feeling as if things got any stranger he was going to begin losing his mind. "This is really important that we find the woman who bought this particular brand of shoe. We don't have any money, but-"

"Then we have nothing more to discuss about her," the clerk pushed the assorted items back to Mabel, who jammed them all in her pocket. "Best of luck finding that triangle tattooed crazy b-"

He clammed up almost immediately, as if having realized a little too late how much he'd let slip.

"... Thanks anyway," Dipper pulled his aggravated sister out of the store. "Catch you later."

"Thank for shopping shoe smart, and have nice day," the man said in flat broken english.

"Man!" Mabel stamped her foot against the ground, sending up water. "This stinks! What kind of maniac can't be bribed with gummy koalas?!"

"Mabel, focus," Dipper said determinedly. "Did you catch what he said?"

"You mean the almost swear word?"  
"No, no, before that," he shook his head quickly, glancing over to Grunkle Stan, who was waving at them to hurry. "He said that she had _tattoos_."

"So?"

" _So,_ " Dipper said excitedly, writing in his journal once again. "This means that we just narrowed our search by a wide margin. How many women in Roadkill County could there be with visible tattoos and really cheap shoes?"

"Are we talking, like, out of a hundred?"

"Mabel," Dipper said slowly, going over his notes. "Gravity Falls has roughly _three_ hundred residents. If we were to narrow that in half and assume that half of those people were women, we'd be down to one-fifty. And he said that she had _triangle_ tattoos, which practically nobody that we've seen has. So, if we were to find the tattoo parlor..."

"We could find out who the mysterious perpetrator is!" Mabel finished excitedly racing to the car. "Onward, Jeeves; to the next destination!"

"Sweetie," Grunkle Stan said expressionlessly as they buckled up. "I love that you're back and all. But you've got to stop calling me your butler. I am _nobody's_ butler."

"But butlers are super cool!" Mabel was bouncing in her seat. "Like the one from BatGuy!"

"Yeah, but isn't BatGuy's butler super crusty old?"  
"Grunkle Stan, you _are_ super crusty old."

"Meh. Fair enough."

Dipper only scribbled something down in his journal before tucking it safely away in his vest.

"We're narrowing down suspects of who could have sent us that letter," Dipper informed Grunkle Stan as they drove. "Our next stop is the tattoo parlor."

"Aren't you two a little young for that?" Grunkle Stan stared at him in the rear view mirror. "I mean, I'm all for it, but your mom would _kill_ me-"

"No, silly billy!" Mabel poked the back of his head, tilting his red fez. "The woman who threw the rock apparently has tattoos; we're gonna find her and kick her butt! And slash or make friends with her, depending."

"Tattooed woman, huh?" Grunkle Stan turned a corner. "... Is she hot?"

"Oh my god," Dipper pinched the bridge of his nose. "One, we haven't even _seen_ the suspect yet, and _two_ , what does it even matter?"

"Hey!" Stan turned around in his seat to face him, nearly driving into oncoming traffic. "Never underestimate a pretty face. Some of them use you, some of them abuse you, and some of them spit blinding acid into your eyes and try to suck out your innards. Y'know. Girly stuff."

"Grunkle Stan, I appreciate the advice but _please watch the road!_ "

"Wow," he said as he turned around in his seat, swerving to avoid going into the ditch. "Mabel was right, you do kinda scream like a girl."

Dipper felt his face go flush as Mabel and Stan laughed, and he grumbled as he buried himself in his journal once more.

They were close, he could _feel_ it.

It was just a matter of tracking her down.

0-0-0-0-0

Dipper and Mabel went home disheartened.

Not only did the tattoo parlor have even fewer clues than they would have liked, they learned practically nothing from their venture. The owner of the place claimed to have never even seen a woman with triangle tattoos, and it was silent in the twins's room as Dipper wordlessly paced barefoot over the wooden floor, chewing on the end of a pen as he did so. The light rain drummed on the window and newly repaired roof, the only sound for a long while.

"Bro," Mabel muttered into her pillow loudly enough for him to hear. "Just go to sleep already."

"It's driving me _crazy_ , Mabel," Dipper pulled at his hair in frustration. "Who could it have been? Who could possibly want us out of Gravity Falls?"

"Does it pertain to sleeping?" she picked her head up with one hand, staring at him blearily.

"Well, no, but-"  
"Then goodnight," she flopped back onto the bed, and Dipper let out a growl of irritation. He found himself in front of the bulletin board covered in pictures that had stayed since last summer, except this time the pictures were rearranged with lines of red string going from photograph to photograph. Nothing seemed to make sense. Someone wanted them to leave Gravity Falls badly enough to send them a threat, but who could have disliked them enough to want them gone?

The picture of the town's current mayor, a biker named Tyler had a number of red strings trailing out from his pinned up picture, leading all over the map. Surely someone in his position had several allies that could have potentially wanted to remove them from the picture. None of Gideon's old gang that remained in Gravity Falls were women with tattoos, although several of the men did. Maybe one of them simply wore a wig?

On second inspection, he sincerely hoped not.

It was entirely possible that there was someone from the now disbanded cult of the Blind Eye who might have been trying to manipulate the twins out of the picture, but they had all had their memories of anything related to the cult erased last summer. Maybe one of them had slipped past? Then again, there hadn't been any women that Dipper noticed in that group, so perhaps not.

He paced around and around in circles, his mind abuzz with questions as he listened to the sound of the rain.  
"Come on..." he muttered to himself as he opened up his journal, flipping through pages. "Who _are_ you...?"

There was nothing that he had recorded about triangle tattoos, and the only thing even remotely related to triangles was _not_ something that he wanted to dwell on. The less he thought of Bill, the happier he'd be.

But then again, what if the lost dream demon was somehow wrapped up in this?  
Dipper shuddered visibly, shaking the thought away. No, Bill Cipher was gone for good, they'd made sure of that a year ago. As soon as he had taken over Grunkle Stan's mind and Ford hit him with the memory erasing ray, there hadn't been even a whisper of Bill.

But if he was somehow still exerting influence over their dimension...

Dipper shook his head again, resuming his pacing. That type of thinking would only prevent him from focusing on the task at hand, which currently, was figuring out who might have sent them the warning. Dipper stared at the pinned up pictures for what felt like forever, chewing his lower lip and going through mental acrobatics to determine who it might have been.

"... _Bro._ "

Dipper jumped at the sound of Mabel's voice, and turned to see her sitting up in bed and scratching her head.

"What is it, Mabel?"

"It's, like, two in the morning," Mabel mumbled sleepily. "What are you even doing?"

"At this point?" he huffed, flopping down onto his own bed. "I don't even know anymore. Everything we had lead to a dead end. We aren't any closer to figuring out the culprit than when we _started_."

"So, maybe they'll throw another rock with their name attached," Mabel yawned.

Dipper sat straight up, grinning.

"... What?"

"Mabel, that's _it!_ "

"Great!" she exclaimed before pausing. "... What's it?"

"We just need them to try scaring us off again..." he tapped his fingers together into a steeple. "Except this time, we're going to have a trap ready-"

"To snag 'em the next time they try something funny!" Mabel slammed her palms together. "Awesome!"

"Now, all we need-"

"Is to _go to sleep,_ " Mabel immediately crashed back onto her bed, curling up beneath the blankets. "I'm all for solving the mystery. Just, in the morning, bro."

Dipper grumbled and resumed pacing, a plan already coming together.

They would catch this mysterious woman, somehow. If they couldn't track her down, then they'd make her come to them. Somehow.

0-0-0-0-0

"Okay," Dipper paced back and forth in front of the collected crew of Mabel, Wendy and Soos. Grunkle Stan had 'excused' himself from the conversation by returning to the television, and Ford was busying himself with another of his endless projects in the basement. "Alright, everyone know the plan?"

"I think so, dude," Soos nodded once, broom still in his hands. "If somebody comes in, whack 'em with this here sweeper."

" _Just_ the woman with the tattoos, Soos," Mabel patted his arm.

"Got it. Hit women with tattoos. Actually, on second thought, I'm not sure how comfortable I am with this plan," Soos tapped his fingers together awkwardly. "I'm a lover, not a fighter, dudes."

"I've got it, man," Wendy gave a half wave from behind the counter, her feet up on top of it. "Me and Soos will keep an eye out for any triangle tattooed chicks and I'll tackle 'em if I see any."

"You're awesome, Wendy!" Dipper beamed, earning a poke in the ribs from Mabel. "Ow! What?" he asked in a hushed tone, but she only rolled her eyes.

"We'll be back soon!" Mabel marched out the door and into the damp morning grass.

"Just make sure to subdue them until we can get back," Dipper poked his head back in through the gift shop door. "And that's even if they show up at all."

"Are you _sure_ you don't want me to come with?" Wendy offered, and for a moment Dipper considered throwing his plan to the wind just to have her along. But, after a moment, he swallowed and shook his head with a slight frown.

"Mabel and I have got this. We'll be back pretty soon."  
"If you're not we'll assume that a werebadger ate you," Soos called out in what he hoped was a helpful manner, earning a positively frigid glare from Wendy. "... What? What is it, dude? What did I say?"

Dipper had his backpack prepared and pulled tightly to him, his journal in his left hand as he closely followed Mabel into the woods surrounding the Shack.

"I swear, this had _better_ work..." Mabel grumbled to him as they walked, the crunching of crisp wet leaves beneath them.

"I'm pretty sure that it will," Dipper nodded and rechecked his journal, brows furrowed. "He's got eyes all over the place, he's _bound_ to have seen or heard something useful."

"I still don't like this plan," she frowned, leading him further and further into the grassy woods, casting her gaze up at the tall trees.

"I don't like it either," he answered curtly. "But it's the best plan we've got, unless Soos and Wendy actually _catch_ this culprit."

They walked for what felt like hours, even though it couldn't have been longer than a few minutes. The chirping of the early morning birdsong seemed muffled through the woods, and they even saw a couple of squirrels carelessly chasing each other through the branches. Mabel insisted on stopping and cooing over them and taking pictures with her phone before continuing, earning a few choice grumbles from Dipper.

At long last they appeared in a small clearing in the woods, and Dipper let out a breath as he pulled the backpack from his shoulders and let it drop before rifling through the journal. There was a large, hollowed out log sitting before them, which Mabel took a seat on.

"... Whelp," he shrugged, looking once to Mabel. "Here goes nothing."

He drew in a long, deep breath, bracing himself.

"ATTENTION, GNOMES! WE COME BEARING GIFTS!"

It was absolutely silent for a few seconds. Even the birdsong seemed to have paused, and it was eerily quiet for several long, uncomfortable minutes. They had almost given up when they heard a rustling in one of the bushes nearby. Out of it pushed a small, bearded gnome with a pointed red hat, grinning from ear to ear.

"Oh no," said Mabel.

"Oh no," said Dipper.  
"Oh yeah!" Jeff the gnome threw out his arms, his already wide grin growing even wider. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the Pines twins! What brings you to _this_ neck of the woods, pretty one?"

"Gee, you flatter me," Dipper deadpanned.

"Ech, I was talking to your sister," Jeff rolled his eyes, hopping up onto the log to meet their eyes at the same time that Mabel jumped up, putting some distance between them. "You look taller since the last time I saw you!"

"You look about the same height," Mabel nodded.

"I'm a gnome," Jeff stated flatly. "We're _all_ the same height. So what brings you out here, anyway? What fresh trouble have you kids brought this time?"

Dipper scowled, pulling his hat down and glaring at the gnome.

"Hey, we don't bring trouble with us, it just sort of _finds_ us!" Mabel interjected.

"Same difference," Jeff shrugged carelessly. "Multi headed bears, earthquakes, the apocalypse, you name it and you kids have been there. You're just bad news. No offense," he held up his palms towards Mabel. "But, seriously, you're lucky I even answered at all."

"Listen," Dipper crossed his arms. "We need a favor."

"Well, golly gee!" Jeff did a little mocking jig, false smile plastered onto his face. "Why didn't you just _say_ so! By George, let me just see what I can do _oh wait it's absolutely nothing._ "

"This is _important,_ " Dipper stressed as the gnome turned away, ready to hop off the log. "We're looking for someone who might want us out of Gravity Falls."

"I can relate," Jeff deadpanned.

"Please?" Mabel gave him her best puppy dog look, pouting. "It would really mean a lot to us..."

"No," he answered immediately.

"Come on," Dipper pleaded, fighting off the desperation. "What do you want? We'll trade you something for information."

Jeff _hmm'd_ for a moment, pretending to think with his chin in his hands.

"What do I want, what do I _want..._ " he mused aloud. "Here's something; _leave_."

"You don't have to be such a jerkface!" Mabel blew a raspberry as he pushed open the bushes he had arrived from. "We really needed your help!"

"Come on, Mabel," Dipper hauled the backpack up and pulled her away with one arm. "Obviously Jeff has better things to do than help other people. Let's just go back to the Shack and check up on Wendy and Soos."

"... Fine," her head hung dejectedly. "At least then we can crack open that fresh jar of peanut butter and-"

"Whoa, hold the phone!" Jeff came barreling back out of the bushes, practically jumping on the spot. "Did-did you guys say that you have peanut butter?"

Mabel and Dipper shared a look for a brief moment, each thinking the same thing reflected in their grins.

"As a matter of fact," Dipper opened up his backpack and pulled out a large jar of brand name peanut butter, noting the fact that Jeff was practically drooling by this point. "We've got a _lot_ of peanut butter. The _good_ stuff, too. We were planning on saving this, but if we were to get some _information..._ "

"... You drive a hard bargain," Jeff hopped up onto the log in a single bound, holding out his hands greedily. "Peanut butter for information. Peanut butter _first_."

"Not even gonna say please?" Mabel scoffed, but Jeff had already buried his face in the jar, an assortment of unpleasant noises emanating from it.

"So..." Dipper said awkwardly as Jeff pulled his head from within the now empty peanut butter jar, coated in the brown substance. "We're looking for a young woman, probably wearing really cheap shoes."

"Have you tried the shoe store?" Jeff asked, licking the peanut butter from his fingers. "Humans tend to go there pretty frequently for shoes."

"She's also probably got some weird tattoos," Mabel added.

"Lots of humans have weird tattoos!" he laughed, pulling some peanut butter from his hair and eating it.

"Triangle tattoos."

All of the color instantly drained from Jeff's face.

Mabel and Dipper glanced to each other for a moment, unsure of how to proceed.

" _Whelp,_ " Jeff hopped off the hollowed out log, clapping his hands together. "That's my cue to leave _hrrk!"_

He was hoisted up by the back of his shirt by Dipper, who was scowling in frustration.

" _Look,_ " Dipper frowned hard. "We gave you the peanut butter. Now we need answers. _Spill._ "

"Alright, alright!" he pulled himself from Dipper's grip. "Yeesh, humans. Always so _cranky._ Why do you even wanna find that crazy girl, anyways?"

"We think she's trying to scare us out of Gravity Falls," Mabel stuck her hands in her pockets.

"What makes you say that she's crazy?" Dipper pried.

"Kept talking to herself," Jeff distractedly pulled more peanut butter off of his person to eat it. "Not in the normal kind of way, either. Like, carrying on full discussions with thin air."

"Pffft, I do that all the time," Mabel rolled her eyes.

"What else?" Dipper insisted, drawing closer. "What else do you know? Who is she? What's her name? Why does she want us out of Gravity Falls?"

"Hey, I don't know, man," Jeff held up his palms defensively. "I just know from a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who knows a gnome who knows a guy who-"

" _Just get to the point!_ " Dipper snapped, feeling his patience begin to crack.

"Alright, alright!" Jeff backed away wearily. "I just know that she sneaks through the woods every so often. Sometimes so well that not even my own gnomes can track her."

"Where does she go?" he demanded as Jeff tried to leave once again.

"Beats me," he shrugged. "The last time anyone saw her, she was wandering over near this weird hollow tree."

Dipper clapped a hand to his head, letting out a groan.  
"Great," he moaned aloud. "A hollow tree. Like there aren't _hundreds_ of those."

"Maybe this will help, then," Jeff said just as he departed for good. "This hollow tree? It also happens to be made of metal. Adios, kids. And don't call me again unless you've got more peanut butter."

The twins stood in stunned silence for a few moments.

There was only one hollow metal tree that either of them knew of, and neither of them ever wanted to bring it up again.

The tattooed woman was hiding in the den of the shapeshifter.

0-0-0-0-0

A/N

The plot thickens!

More chapters on the way, I'd love to know how I'm doing! ^-^


	3. Chapter 3

0-0-0-0-0

"Guys," Dipper said as he entered the quiet gift shop with Mabel close in tow. Dipper's hat was covering his eyes, and Mabel had her pink sweater pulled tightly about her as she looked away. "I think we've got problems."

"Man, sure took your time out there," Wendy grinned at him, but her smile slowly faded when she saw the expression that he wore. "Dude? What's wrong?"

"Were the gnomes bite-y?" Soos asked, poking his head in through the doorway. "Because, let me tell you, those little guys leave some serious bite marks."

"We have bigger problems than gnomes right now..." Dipper opened his journal on the countertop and flipped to the page he had written all of his notes about their old enemy on. "I think we found out where this mystery woman is hiding out."

Wendy stared at the image drawn on the paper, her mouth slightly agape.

"... Dude," Wendy's voice came out a little wavering. "The-the _shapeshifter?_ "

"Jeff told us that tattoo girl is hiding out in some hollow metal tree," Mabel's normally cheerful demeanor seemed to be a little flattened. "What other hollow metal trees do we know of aside from the hidden base with the shapeshifter underneath it?"

"You don't think that she's actually in cahoots with the shapeshifter or something, do you hambones?" Soos twisted the hem of his shirt uncomfortably. "Because, uh, not gonna lie, I seriously do _not_ wanna fight that guy again."

"You and me both," Wendy nodded gravely.

"So, we need a new plan of action," Dipper slammed his fist into his open palm. "We sneak into the hidden base, find out what she and the shapeshifter are up to, and put a stop to their plans."

"You're suddenly very gung-ho about this all of a sudden..." Wendy blinked at him.

"Think about it," he closed the book firmly, looking at each of them in turn. "We've already been told by multiple people-"

"And gnomes," Mabel added.

"-That this woman is mentally unhinged. If she actually manages to reach the shapeshifter and let him loose on the world, _nobody_ is going to be safe! We'll _never_ be able to trust someone, ever again."

It was dead silent in the room for a while.

"He has a point, you know."

Every head in the room snapped around to see Stanford leaning against the doorframe in his many pocketed tan field jacket, casually adjusting his glasses.

"Great Uncle Ford! H-how long have you been standing there?" Dipper felt himself flush.

"Long enough," Stanford shook his head with a small smile. "Good to see that you managed to successfully navigate my old bunker."

"We're gonna go kick some butt and stop the shapeshifter!" Mabel announced.

"That does sound like quite the adventure," Ford patted her head before frowning, turning to face them all. "But I'm afraid that I cannot allow any of you to venture into my old laboratory."

"What?" they all said at once, and he held up a six fingered hand to explain himself.

"The shapeshifter is _my_ responsibility," Stanford shook his head, an odd gleam in his eyes. "The fact alone that you faced it and survived is miraculous. I cannot willingly put any of you in harm's way. I'm sorry. This is just something that I have to take care of myself."

"Are-are you sure about this?" Dipper tried standing in front of him as Ford made for the door. "W-what if this tattoo woman really is working with the shapeshifter?"

"Then I will do _whatever_ is necessary," Ford said, slightly pulling back his coat to reveal his oddly shaped pistol. "To protect this family. Do not follow me. _Any_ of you," he eyed Wendy particularly, who only made a zipping motion over her mouth and flicking away an imaginary key.

Before Ford left, he turned to the downcast Dipper and put a hand on his shoulder, causing him to glance up.

Much to his surprise, Ford was holding out the last thing that Dipper would have ever expected.

A red leather bound journal with a golden hand, and a number four printed in ink on the cover. Dipper stared up at him as if he had just handed him a brick of solid gold, his mouth slightly agape.

"Is-is this...?" Dipper could hardly bring himself to speak, let alone breathe.

"After Bill incinerated my previous three journals," Ford said, "I began working on recording some of the more supernatural and bizarre elements of Gravity Falls that I never got the opportunity to put in the first ones. I've been writing in that one for nearly a year now, and I think it's high time that I start a new one."

Dipper flipped it open, revealing a surprisingly large number of blank pages.

"It's... only half full...?"

"I know," Ford stood with a grin. "I figured you'd have more fun actually filling the rest of it than just reading my stuffy old notes."

"G-great uncle Ford, I-I don't know what to say..." Dipper felt a little light headed from the sheer excitement. "T-thank you!"

"It's made with an extra-lightweight material that I developed," Stanford said a little proudly, adjusting his glasses. "Waterproof, bulletproof, weatherproof, fireproof, magicproof; I've been working on that baby for quite a while, so please take good care of it."

"Yeesh, don't start cryin' on us, Dippingsauce," Mabel patted his shoulder and Dipper gave a watery half laugh.

"I won't be gone long," Stanford readjusted his glasses, standing in the doorway. "If I don't come back in at least an hour, assume that the worst has occurred."

"What?" Dipper froze. "But-but great uncle Ford! You can't just go by yourself-"

"Hambone's got a point there, dude," Soos added. "That shapeshifter is, like, no joke. Not even the knock knock kind."

"Just trust me, Dipper. I have experience with this creature."

"Wait," Wendy sat straight up. "Wait, hold on – what if the shapeshifter, like... knocks you out or something, and tries coming back looking like you?"

Wendy's answer was in the reply of an oddly shaped pistol, which he pulled from his coat and tossed to her. She caught it deftly and stared down at it in dull surprise, looking back to him with the same astonishment.

"When gravity falls and earth becomes sky, fear the beast with just one eye," Ford said gravely. "If I don't repeat that phrase when I make it back, then it's not me. And for the love of all that is holy, do _not_ tell Stanley about the shapeshifter. He's paranoid enough as it is."

It was silent in the gift shop for several awkward moments after Stanford left.

"Yikes, who died in here?" Grunkle Stan entered through the living room, scratching his stomach. "Seriously, you all look like I offered to make dinner or something."

"No offense, Grunkle Stan," Mabel frowned. "But your 'special meat surprise' tends to be a lot less special and too much surprise. And I _like_ surprises."

"Grunkle Stan, did you know that great uncle Ford has been working on a new journal?" Dipper showed him excitedly, flipping through several of the pages and trying to soak in as much information as possible.

"Great, more nerd stuff," he snorted, turning on the spot. "Where is Poindexter, anyway?"

Dipper opened his mouth to speak before he caught Wendy's look, slightly shaking her head back and forth.

"He, uh... went to check something out in one of his old bunkers," Dipper coughed awkwardly into one hand. It wasn't _technically_ lying.

"Figures," Grunkle Stan grunted, retreating to the darkened living room. "Probably scavenging for more junk for his weird equations again."

His voice grew more and more distant as he left, and the tension of the room slowly ebbed away.

"SO," Soos said loudly, still holding the broom. "Anyone else got _super_ bad vibes about letting Stanford go face that thing on his own?"

0-0-0-0-0

There had been an influx of customers to the gift shop for a while, and Stanford still had not returned.

Dipper paced back and forth in the gift shop, nervously checking out the window every few seconds to no avail.

"Dipper," Mabel ran a hand through her hair. "You have _got_ to stop doing that, you're making _me_ anxious."

"Mabel, it's been _three hours,_ " Dipper pulled at the dog eared lumberjack hat nervously. He eventually stopped in front of the register, letting his head hit the counter in frustration.

"Actually, I think I'm with Dipper on this one, Mabel..." Wendy shifted awkwardly, hardly having moved from her position behind the register the entire time. "Dude's been gone a crazy long time. I'm kinda worried too."

"I'm pretty sure the dude has it covered," Soos's voice came from behind Dipper and Mabel, making them jump in surprise. "He's, like, super smart. He even managed to get that little gnome guy out of the leafblower!"

"Soos," Dipper held a hand to his chest. "Please do _not_ sneak up on me like that."

"Oh," Soos rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry, dude. I'll try to sneak louder next time."

"Maybe we should get Grunkle Stan..." Mabel started, only to be cut off by Dipper.

"No way!" he shook his head. "Great uncle Ford specifically said _not_ to tell Grunkle Stan."

"Okay," Mabel stuck out her tongue. "So what are we gonna tell Grunkle Stan when we all take off to go looking for him?"

"Whatever you tell me you'd better make it interesting."

They all turned to see Grunkle Stan with his arms folded in the doorway, staring at them.

"... Man, he really is a lot like his brother," Wendy muttered under her breath to Dipper.

"So, Ford's been gone for a few hours," Stan shrugged. "So what? He does that all the time."

"He-he does?" Dipper blinked in surprise.

"Well, yeah," Grunkle Stan rolled his eyes. "Jeez, just because he doesn't have his brother there to hold his hand the whole time doesn't mean that he's in terrible danger or something stupid like that."

They all shared awkward looks across the room, and Stan froze.

"... See," he folded his hands together, looking at each of them. " _That_ is the kind of uncomfortable silence I really, _really_ don't like getting whenever I mention my brother being in danger. What did that idiot do _this_ time?"

"U-uh, well..." Dipper stuttered.

"He was just collecting some junk!"

Much to Dipper's relief and equal parts surprise, it had been Soos who spoke.

"... Oh yeah?" Stan asked suspiciously.

"Y-yeah, dude!" he nodded ferociously. "These guys can definitely handle going to tell him to, uh, hurry up and stuff. I can hold down the gift shop while they go get him!"

Stanley inspected Soos's face very carefully for several long moments, and Soos could feel the sweat beading on his forehead as he struggled to remain emotionless.

After a long, painfully stretching few seconds Grunkle Stan finally grunted and shrugged again before patting Soos on the shoulder.

"Yeah, sure, whatever," he shook his head. "I know that of all people _Soos_ would never lie to me. Just make sure to shake down any rubes we get for double the price on the merchandise."

"You got it, Mister Pines!" Soos saluted cheerfully as Stan grumbled something to himself as he went back to the living room.

Everyone let out a collective sigh of relief, and Soos nodded guiltily to them.

"Just... make sure that everyone stays alright, okay, dudes?"

"You got it, man," Wendy gave him a two fingered salute, showing him the gun in her pocket. "I'll make sure to keep these guys safe."

Dipper made sure to grab his prepared backpack by the door before leaving, tightening the straps as they went.

"Going on an adventure," Mabel said in a singsong tune as she followed Dipper and Wendy into the woods. "Going on an adventure, singing the adventure song!"

"Mabel maybe right now isn't the best time for the adventure song," Dipper frowned, burying himself the journal that Stanford had given him. He couldn't help but notice that he and Mabel were almost the same height as Wendy now, albeit a bit shorter. However, if he didn't stop staring at her he was going to wind up walking into another tree.

"Ahh, gotta cut loose somehow, right?" Wendy shrugged, leading them onward.

"Don't mind him," Mabel stuck her tongue out at him. "Dip Dip just hates fun."

"Hey! I don't _hate_ fun," he argued, snapping the book shut. "I'm just more _mature_ than you."

"He doesn't mean mature. He means stuffy," Mabel interjected, interlocking her fingers behind her back as they walked. Dipper scowled, but looked up when Wendy laughed and patted him on the head.

"It's cool, dude," she grinned, and he felt his irritation slipping fast. "Just hang in there."

The shadows cast over them seemed longer than usual as they walked in silence, as if the forest itself were trying to warn them away. Regardless, they trudged on, and Dipper kept the journal close to him as a slight breeze rustled the branches above.

"Dude," Wendy pointed out, picking up pace all of a sudden. "It's-it's still open..."

And, true to her word, the spiraling staircase of the hidden base was wide open, gaping like an animal's maw ready to swallow them whole.

Dipper gulped audibly, unpleasant memories surfacing.

"Great Uncle Stanford must still be inside," Dipper pulled out a few small flashlights, handing one each to Mabel and Wendy. "Remember; nobody stray too far away, keep out of the shadows, and don't – touch – _anything._ "

Wendy and Mabel nodded once, and Dipper took a long, deep breath.

"Okay," he said shakily as he lead them into the bowels of the earth. "Here goes everything."

 _Man, those would make terrible last words._

0-0-0-0-0

To say that it was dark inside the underground bunker was an understatement.

Their weak flashlights did little to illuminate the swallowing darkness, and any internal lights that might have once lit up the place apparently no longer worked. Dipper peered through the shade and let his eyes adjust to the darkness for a minute before proceeding, Wendy and Mabel close in tow.

Mabel sneezed in the dusty air. She rubbed her nose with her sleeve, following the bobbing lights of Dipper and Wendy into the dark abyss.

"Is it just me," Wendy's eyes narrowed as she looked around. "Or did this place get _way_ creepier since the last time we were here?"

"Guys...?" Dipper said, running a finger down a dusty machine. "There's something weird."

"You know, _aside_ from the horrible monster hiding somewhere inside this place," Mabel rolled her eyes. "That is, _if_ it hasn't gotten loose already."

"Wow, gee, thanks for the morale boost Mabel," Dipper said sarcastically. "But I mean, look at the dust."

"Yeah?" Wendy turned on the spot where Dipper showed her the dust covered machine. "What about it?"

"All of this stuff is dusty," Dipper frowned. "Everything _except_ for the floor. No footprints to follow."

"... Huh," Wendy matched his look, inspecting the floor for herself. "Man, you're right. No dust on the floors."

"So?" Mabel blew the hair from her face. "Maybe the shapeshifter likes to sweep up after himself. It's not _that_ weird."

"So why clean the floors but not everything else?" Dipper asked. "Unless someone deliberately wanted to make sure that they didn't leave tracks."

"Maybe it was tattoo girl?" Wendy suggested. "Cleaning up after herself. Gotta side with Mabel, man. Not that bizarre."

"Let's... just keep looking," Dipper said, furrowing his brows. They descended further and further into the abandoned laboratory, and Dipper could feel the air growing thicker as they traversed the bunker. The old control room was completely unoccupied, and he made sure to do a careful sweep of the room for any types of clues. However, all he found was a couple of empty cans of beans with the tops torn off. He scowled, remembering the face of the man on it perfectly well.

"... This closet thing is open," Wendy pointed her flashlight into the decontamination chamber. "It wasn't the last time."

"Do you think great uncle Ford is somewhere in there?" Dipper asked quietly, but Wendy only shrugged.

"Man, I _really_ hope not," Mabel harrumphed. The light shining into the glistening cave on the other side was not welcoming in the slightest, and Dipper couldn't shake off the feeling of walking straight into the mouth of a wild animal. Their first few steps were tentative and quiet, but their footsteps still echoed in the cavern.

"Okay," Mabel said. "On a scale of one to ten on the creepiness factor, this is _definitely_ an eleven and a half."

"Just stick together," Dipper's voice came out louder than he meant it to. "This thing could come from any angle-"

A loud, high pitched shriek echoed from deeper within the cavern, making them all freeze in place, hair standing on end.

"... I get the feeling that time is of the essence here," Wendy pulled the pistol from her pocket, flicking the safety off.

"R-right," Dipper nodded, sounding much braver than he felt. "Let's go."

They strode into the tunnels together, their dim lights hardly doing anything to brighten up the place, but they hurried nonetheless. Dipper occasionally checked behind and above them, constantly on the lookout for the shapeshifter. There was, however, a flickering light just ahead, and Dipper took the lead and sprinting ahead of the others, skidding to a stop in the wide open room.

It was the same room that they had trapped the shapeshifter in once before. One of the cryogenic chambers had been shattered from the inside, glass over the floor in a wide angle. That was not what surprised him. In one of the chambers with both six fingered hands against the glass stood none other than-

"Great uncle Ford!" Dipper gasped, bolting up to the man in the chamber.

"Dipper, my boy!" Ford beamed at him. "My goodness, I can't begin to say how glad I am to see you! You've got to get me out of here, and fast!"

"What happened? How did you get in there?" he asked, looking around for a release mechanism.

"That clever shapeshifter," Ford explained, watching him the entire time. "He tricked me and locked me inside here! The auxiliary power must have temporarily gone out, unfreezing him; I can explain once we're out of here, we need to go now!"

"I'm trying, I'm trying...!" Dipper looked over the device frantically.

"Quickly!" Ford pointed to a panel not too far away. "There's a red button just over there – press it and we can get out of here!"

Dipper wasted no time in slamming his hand onto the button, grinning up at Ford as the glass door quickly slid open. A klaxon alarm went off somewhere, echoing throughout the caverns.

"Dipper!" Wendy screamed as she caught up with him, Mabel close behind.  
"Wendy!" he breathed. "We've got to get out of here, the shapeshifter is loose-"

"That he is, dear boy..." he heard Ford say just as he turned. Dipper couldn't react fast enough to block the punch from his great uncle, the powerful blow sending him spiraling to the floor. His flashlight cracked and went spinning behind him, casting long, freakish looking shadows over the walls.

" _Dipper!_ "

Dipper's head spun as he touched his nose, dull surprise on his face as he observed his own blood.

"... Oh," he said simply, looking up to the grinning visage of the man that looked like Ford. "Uh oh."

"Uh oh, indeed," Ford nodded once in agreement.

Dipper struggled to shuffle away from the shapeshifter but was still too dazed to shake off his iron grip as he was jerked aside, and within another moment he found himself face to face with himself. He fought back with a punch, which the shapeshifter nimbly dodged before tackling him to the ground.

"Dipper!" Wendy screamed again, the triangle ended pistol shaking in her hands. Mabel stood in horror behind the redhead, hands over her mouth as she tried to tell the difference between the two.

"Wendy!" Both Dippers cried at once, pushing and pulling for control.

"Which one is the real Dipper?" Mabel asked, panicked.

"I-I don't know...!" Wendy breathed. "Just... just stay still already!"

"Shoot him!" Dipper yelled. "Hurry, Wendy!"

"Don't listen to him!" the other Dipper yelled. "He's the shapeshifter!"

"That's not me, guys!" Dipper punched his doppelganger hard in the jaw, struggling to push him to the ground. "Guys, that _isn't_ me!"

One Dipper crashed into the other with a bull rush, sending them both tussling to the floor. One would strike out only to be punched by the other, and both had equally bruised right eyes as they fought. One of them snagged a sharp looking piece of glass and held it above his head like a dagger, only to have it kicked out of his hand by the other Dipper as they once again went crashing to the floor.

"Dipper!" Wendy shouted, gun flicking from one target to the other. "I-I need to know which one is the real you! Just... just give me a sign!"

"Wendy," the Dipper on top ceased his attack, looking at her pleadingly. "Think of everything that we've been through. Everything that we've gone through together. I can't imagine life without you. I... I _love_ you, Wendy."

Wendy froze.

"WHEN GRAVITY FALLS AND EARTH IS SKY, FEAR THE BEAST WITH JUST ONE EYE!"

That was all the cue that Wendy needed.

She fired with precision marksmanship, searing bolt blasting the top Dipper square in the eye. It screamed in agony as flowing globules of green ichor sprayed from the gaping wound in it's head, horrible, ear piercing shrieks echoing about the room. It strained to stand, razor sharp claws growing from every appendage as it grew taller-

Just in time to receive a flying roundhouse kick from Mabel, sending the creature spiraling backwards into the cryogenic chamber. Dipper bolted to his feet and slammed both hands down onto the button, locking the screaming shapeshifter inside just in time.

"You stupid little _brats!_ " the coarse voice of the shapeshifter floated out to them as it slowly began to freeze. "Do you honestly think this puny prison will hold me forever?"

"I _hope_ so," Mabel blew a raspberry at him. "That's what you get for punching my brother!"

"He's lying to you," the shapeshifter laughed as he changed forms once again, returning to the visage of Stanford. "You can't imagine the secrets that six fingered freak is keeping from you. You're just going to wind up like me. A project that he got bored with and put on the _shelf._ "

"Don't listen to him, man," Wendy put a hand on Dipper's shoulder, pulling him away as the shapeshifter was almost completely frozen. "C'mon. Let's get out of here."

"Am I, now?" the man that looked like Stanford's grin was far, far too wide and toothy to be natural. One of his eyes was still regenerating, leaking a revolting looking green ooze. "Just you wait. I'll be back. And then, I'm coming for you and your little friends. One. By. One."

The cryogenic chamber iced over completely, and they stood in silence for a moment.

"... All in favor of never bringing this up again?" Wendy asked awkwardly.

"Agreed," Mabel and Dipper nodded. Mabel held Dipper up under the shoulder and helped him walk, and his every step was sore. They walked like that for several minutes in absolute silence. Not even Mabel made a joke, and the tension was like a wall of fog. They heard running down the cavern behind them, and Wendy quickly held out one arm to keep them back.

"Behind me," she said firmly, pulling the pistol out once more and shining her flashlight down the tunnel. Mabel and Dipper stood ready to fight, eyes trained on the spot just ahead of where Wendy's flashlight was shining.

Then, just around the corner with his tan coat flapping behind him, came running Stanford Pines.

"Whoa, whoa!" he skidded to a halt, one hand behind his back. "Wendy – kids?! I thought I told you not to follow me?"

"How do we know you're the real Stanford?" Wendy asked quickly.

"When gravity falls and ea- oh my _god_!" Stanford blinked when he saw the state that Dipper was in, with his bleeding lip and nose, complete with black eye and scratch marks. "Dipper? You look like you were hit by a _truck_ , Shermie's going to _kill_ me!"

"It's okay. That's him," Dipper gently pushed down on Wendy's arm.

"We heard the alarm for the shapeshifter's containment cell go off," Ford explained as he ran a six fingered hand through his hair. "Thank goodness you're all alright."

"You know," Mabel shrugged. "Aside from Dipper getting the tar kicked out of him. Shapeshifter is back in his time out box."

"Hey, I put up a fight-" he started, only to glance back to his great uncle. "Wait, did you say 'we'?"

Ford nodded and carefully brought out what, or who, was hiding behind him. A young girl of almost equal height to Dipper gradually stepped out from behind him, bright emerald eyes shining in the dim light. Her jet black inky hair draped down to her shoulders freely falling onto her tattered white tank top shirt, the thick markings of several interlocking tattoos evident all over her arms and shoulders, even trailing partway up her neck. She wore thin, ripped jeans that Dipper could easily see more triangular tattoo markings through, and a quick check revealed that she was indeed wearing very cheap looking types of worn shoes. Her eyes never left him the entire time, and she didn't speak at all.

"Uh... hi," Dipper weakly said at last.

Then he passed out.

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A/N

Oh my god, thanks to all of you awesome guys for all the support and comments! I guess if people actually like this I'll keep writing. See ya in the next chapter, fellas. ^-^

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	4. Chapter 4

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Dipper listened to the sound of the crashing waves for a while.

He could feel the sand on his cheek, in his hair as he stared out at the cloudy gray ocean. His body felt heavy and his mind was numb, as if he were slowly being drawn out of a long forgotten dream. The waves lapped gently against the shore, and the cloudless gray sky had no sun or moon, and Dipper was unsure if it was day or night. He eventually drew up the strength to push himself up by his forearms, a dull pounding in the center of his forehead defying his will.

He stared out at the ocean for a moment, thinking. Something about this place seemed... off. It almost sounded as if there was a voice hidden just beneath the sound of the waves, calling out to him. Dipper could vaguely see some shimmering monument seemingly growing directly out of the ocean and scraping the sky, but was too far away to properly see. He couldn't quite place what it was, and he felt as if he were forgetting something terribly important-

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Dipper bolted upright, hacking and wheezing.

"Told ya," Wendy knelt over him, grinning.

"Wow," Mabel nodded in surprise. "I gotta admit, Wendy, I didn't think Dipper actually brought smelling salts."

"Is _that_ what those smell like?" Dipper coughed, rubbing his nose. "I think it burned my nose hair off!"

He twisted his head around as he sat at the sound of Stanford's chuckling. His head was pounding horribly, but the odd dream

"Good thing you're the prepared type," Stanford helped him stand. "If I'm being totally honest, I wasn't really looking forward to carrying you all the way back to the house."

The Asian girl with the triangle tattoos was still partially hiding behind Stanford, occasionally peering out from behind them to look at them. She had a slightly wild look to her from her unkempt hair and the dirt collected on her, giving her a feral appearance. Her eyes, however, were piercing and focused, with a gaze so sharp it might have cut glass.

"Hold still a moment, Dipper..." Stanford held one of the flashlights, kneeling down to peer into Dipper's eyes. "You must have taken a real beating back there, you appear to have a minor concussion."

"So, uh, just to be clear..." Dipper said awkwardly as Stanford pulled a first aid kit from Dipper's bag, which had somehow come into Mabel's possession. "Great uncle Ford? You-you _do_ realize who that girl is, right?"

"Oh!" he blinked suddenly, unraveling a roll of gauze. "I'm terribly sorry; in all the excitement I'm afraid we sort of skipped the introductions. Wendy, Mabel, Dipper; this young lady has been camping in my bunker for a while."

"Nice to meet you," the girl spoke at last, and her voice was soft and lilting, barely heard at all. "My name is Viola."

"Great. Miss 'Viola'," Dipper frowned as Ford adorned his head tightly with the gauze. "Mind telling us why you tried threatening us out of Gravity F-"

"Can it wait until we're out of here?" the girl named Viola wrapped her arms tightly around herself, shivering. "Please? I-I really don't want to be anywhere near that... _thing._ "

"Of course, young lady," Stanford answered immediately, twirling his flashlight in his hand and setting off determinedly. "Let's get you all back to the Shack."

"But-but great uncle Ford!" Dipper balked at him, stumbling before Mabel caught him by the arm, helping him to walk. "What about...?"  
"There will be plenty of time for questions later," Ford shook his head, leading them all toward the exit. "For now, I'm putting this whole laboratory on lockdown until I can devise a more secure method of withholding the shapehsifter."

It was silent almost the entire trip back to the Mystery Shack. Stanford locked up the underground bunker with a small set of levers by the entrance, and the walked in single file with Stanford in the lead, holding the tattooed girl by the hand, and Mabel and Dipper taking up the rear. Wendy was uncharacteristically quiet the entire time, her hand in the pocket housing Ford's pistol as she kept her eyes trained on the girl before her without pause. Mabel and Dipper lagged behind a little bit as they walked, quietly talking amongst theirselves.

"I don't like this," Dipper mumbled to Mabel, walking on his own but with a slight limp.

"Maybe this is all just a big misunderstanding...?" Mabel shrugged hopefully.

"I doubt it," he frowned. "This girl just _mysteriously_ shows up at the same time that the shapeshifter was somehow unfrozen? Yeah, no. I'd bet my hat on it that she's the one that let him loose."

"Well, _technically,_ " Mabel scratched her nose, looking over at him. " _You're_ the one that let him loose."

Dipper's head bowed, and he sighed.

"I can't believe I fell for that stupid trick," he mentally kicked himself. "I mean, of _course_ the shapeshifter would take the form of somebody I trusted. I'm so _stupid._ "

"Ah, you can't beat yourself up for it!" Mabel grinned. "The shapeshifter already beat you up enough, don'tcha think?"

"I put up a fight..." Dipper grumbled to himself. Mabel patted him on the shoulder, and he winced in pain.

"Yeah, I'll give you that," she beamed at him. "You kept him distracted long enough for Wendy to blast him."

"But you're the one that finished him off," Dipper noted. "I mean, that roundhouse kick was pretty awesome."

"Dude!" she scoffed. "What part of 'black belt' is it that people just don't seem to get? And thanks, Dip Dip."

"Don't mention it."

"Oh, I'm bragging to _everybody,_ " Mabel laughed. "But seriously, maybe you should look into karate, too. Oh my gosh!" she gasped suddenly. "Dipper! I could _teach_ you karate!"

Dipper gave her a flat, blank and exhausted stare.

"Yeah, no," he stated bluntly, vividly remembering the last (and only) time that he had tried joining Mabel's karate class. It had been one of the most brutal physical workouts of his entire life, and he had gone home feeling more sore than ever, excluding his fight with Gideon's giant robot.

"Aww, _please...?_ " she gave him a puppy dog stare, and Dipper rolled his eyes.

"I-I'll... consider it," he pretended to think it over, and Mabel cheered.

"Neato burrito!" she slapped him on the back. Dipper yelped, and Mabel cringed. "Whoops. Sorry broseph."

Soos was waiting expectantly outside of the Shack for their return, and the sun was beginning to roll down the evening sky by the time they finally reached him. Soos greeted them all back in relief, including their latest addition to the group.

"Oh, man, I am so glad to see you dudes," Soos picked up Mabel and Dipper in one arm each, giving them a bone crushing hug. "I was starting to worry that you got, like, eaten by the shapeshifter or something. Or werebadgers. Or a gru. Y'know, something scary."

"We're all good, Soos," Dipper wheezed. "But I kind of can't breathe..."

"Oh. Sorry, dudes," he dropped them with a laugh. "My bad."

"Hey, Mister Stanford..." Wendy handed the gray haired man back the pistol handle first. "Kind of thought you might want this back."

"Ah, of course," he nodded without releasing Viola. He took it carefully and twirled it in his fingers before holstering it back onto his hip. "Thank you, Wendy."

"No prob, man."

They entered the gift shop one by one, and Grunkle Stan poked his head around from the living room, still in his boxers and stained white shirt.

" _There_ you are," he grumbled loudly when he saw Stanford, and Viola hid behind him immediately. "Sure did take your time collecting junk. What'd you even run to get this time, anyway?"

"Well," Stanford said slowly, stepping aside and revealing the tattooed girl. "We found the girl who sent us the warning message."

"... And?" Grunkle Stan rolled his hand through the air. "What, no alien residue this time? No poltergeist trapped in a metal can? No incredibly dangerous monster let loose on the world?"

"Well, you got one out of three, so that's not bad," Mabel grinned at him, and Grunkle Stan did a double take when he saw the state that Dipper was in.

"Holy hell in a _handbasket!_ " he breathed, kneeling down in front of Dipper. "Kid, you look like you were hit by a _truck!_ "

"That's what _I_ said," Ford crossed his arms, but nobody seemed to hear him.

"Kid, what happened?" Grunkle Stan asked seriously, inspecting the bandages around Dipper's head.

"Remember that shapeshifter we told you about?" Dipper shifted uncomfortably beneath his great uncle's gaze. "He, uh, kind of... got out."

"And Dipper kicked his _butt!_ " Mabel interjected excitedly.

"Ha!" Grunkle Stan slapped him on the shoulder, making him cringe. "Gave 'im the old one two, eh? Actually fighting _back_ for once. I'm... kinda proud of ya, kid."

Regardless of the pain he was in, it all seemed to ebb away for a few moments as he couldn't help but smile back at Grunkle Stan.

Grunkle Stan looked over the worn pair for a few seconds before finally turning to the tattooed girl.

"... I hope you know you're paying for that window," Grunkle Stan frowned at her.

"Stanley," Ford matched his look. "This young lady is Viola. We found her hiding out in my old laboratory. From the state of things, I would guess that she's been camping there for a while."

"So you're the one who tried scarin' off my niece and nephew, huh?" Grunkle Stan scratched his chin. "Gotta admit, kinda thought you'd be... taller."

"I'm very sorry for any transgressions," she bowed her head. "I did what I had to."

"What is _that_ supposed to mean?" Wendy leaned against the door, staring at the girl.

"I..." Viola started, looking about at them all before drawing her arms tight together. She looked down at her feet, dark look on her face. "I had a dream. It told that you would come here. It told m-me to scare you away."

It had suddenly become very quiet in the crowded gift shop, and every set of eyes was trained on her.

"If you don't mind me asking..." Stanford's voice came out soft and quiet, but just as firm. "Where _exactly_ did you get all of these... _triangle_ tattoos?"

Viola stared up at him for a moment before taking a long, deep breath, turning away and walking close to the wall, facing away from everyone. Then she began to lift up her shirt.

"Whoa, whoa!" Grunkle Stan clapped a hand over his eyes. "This is supposed to be a family friendly environment-"

"Stanley," Ford breathed, staring. "You need to see this."

On the girl's back, covering from shoulder to shoulder, was a large branded black circle. It depicted none other than a radiating Bill Cipher, eye open and arms outstretched with his little top hat and bow tie, and dangling legs toward the bottom. There was a huge wheel rolling over her back with a number of symbols ranging from a pair of glasses next to a pentagram with an eye in the center to a hatchet, a shooting star and a pine tree, along with a six fingered hand and the symbol matching the one on Grunkle Stan's fez that he was hardly ever seen without. There were also symbols that none of them recognized, including an open book, a broken staff, a solid black orb and a bird with open wings.

Dipper heard the sound of a camera next to him, and blinked in surprise to see Mabel taking a picture with her phone.

"... For scrapbooking," she explained sheepishly.

Viola slowly lowered her tattered shirt, turning around to face them all.

"... Well," Stanford cleared his throat uncomfortably. "That didn't really answer my question. In fact, I think I have even more questions now than I did before."

"I understand." Viola bowed her head again, eyes closing for a long moment. "I'm sorry; I-I don't even know where to _start._ Um, if you don't mind... do-do you have anything to eat? I would be happy to answer your questions, but I am very hungry."

"Of course, young lady," Ford patted her kindly on the head. "I'm sure that we have plenty."

"I'll be right back!" Mabel powered through them, bounding up the stairs loudly.

Viola was led into the living room and given a large blanket (and a spare sweater belonging to Mabel with a llama on the front) and had devoured the sandwiches that Stanford made for her. She sat shivering with the cup of hot chocolate steaming in her hands, awkwardly avoiding the gazes of everyone staring at her. Dipper quietly asked to borrow Mabel's phone for a while, using his chewed pen to sketch in the journal Ford had given him the odd symbols on the tattoo as he sat on the floor next to her. Soos stood against the wall next to Wendy, who was trying her best to look disinterested.

"... Thank you," Viola eventually said quietly, her voice so soft that she was almost unheard. "Y-you have all been very kind to me."

"... Now," Stanford clapped his six fingered hands together as he took a seat on the sofa next to his brother. "Why don't we start at the beginning?"

"The beginning..." Viola held the hot chocolate a little closer to her, brows furrowed. "I-I guess so..."  
"Take your time," Stanford nodded once, silently noting that Dipper was currently writing rapidly into the journal. "Don't leave out any details. Just start at the beginning."

"I guess..." she frowned, turning the mug around and around and watching her drink swirl. "I guess it all started when I began having these... weird dreams."

Stanford nodded again when she paused.

"What sorts of dreams?" he asked, and she shivered beneath the blanket again.

"Weird dreams," Viola frowned harder. "Not like a normal weird dream, like where you're dreaming that you're in school but all of your classmates are eggs or something. I mean, like... really, really vivid dreams. Lucid ones."

"About what?"

"All sorts of things," she continued quietly. "But they all had the nice triangle man in them."

"Bill," Stanford breathed. It was so silent in the room one could have heard a pin drop, and Viola shivered once more. "So it really is him. He isn't gone."

"Cipher," Viola nodded. "He told me his name was... Bill Cipher. He was in all the dreams. Telling me things."

"What sorts of things?"

"All sorts of weird stuff," she shrugged. "Advice. Flattery. Secrets. Predictions. He told me that I was chosen, that I had a special destiny. He was just so... _nice_ to me. He was there for me when I was alone. I-I thought he was my friend. My closest friend. He knew everything about me. I trusted him."

"Bill Cipher was extremely persuasive..." Ford said, readjusting his glasses. "He was particularly fond of enticing mortals."

"With deals?" she guessed, and Ford nodded. "Yeah. I figured as much."

"So what happened?" Wendy asked, and every head in the room turned to her. She shifted awkwardly from the unexpected attention. "Uh, I mean... just curious. No biggie."

"Bill started telling me things," Viola continued, staring into her cup. "About how I was special. How I would someday change the whole world. He showed me things. Special things. Incredible things. How to do things that nobody else could. How-how to contact him. He said I was important to him. He could predict the future, and everything he said turned out to be true."

"Bill was a master manipulator," Stanford frowned. "He'd tell you whatever you wanted to hear to get what he wanted."

"I figured that much out..." Viola said with a dark look. "He warned me that I had to hurry; that soon he was going to go missing for a while. That I would stop having the dreams for a little bit. But he'd be back. All I had to do was make a deal."

"And...?" Ford was on the edge of his seat, face utterly emotionless.

Viola didn't say anything for a moment.

"I shook his hand..." she said, her voice wavering for a moment. "And the next thing I knew, everything I knew was just... _gone._ "

"What do you mean, 'gone'?"

"My house," Viola breathed, shaking. "My home. My family. My friends didn't recognize me any more," she said all at once, as if she had been holding it in for a very long time. "E-everything was just... _gone._ It was like nobody knew who I was anymore. I tried going to the police for help, but they said that there had never been a Craven family in the neighborhood at all. I tried asking private detectives for help, but they just told me the same thing."

"Your family went missing?" Soos asked, concern plain on his face.

" _Everything_ went missing," Viola scowled. "It was like I wasn't even _real_ anymore. Nobody would help me. That's-that's when the dreams started again."

Viola took a deep breath, still staring down into her mug, which was cold by this point. Her shoulders were quivering, and she pulled the blanket a little tighter around herself before continuing.

"So when the dreams came back," she started slowly, eyes downcast. "I thought that Bill would help bring my family back. He said he couldn't do it by himself, that I would have to go somewhere special to find them. So I left Virginia. I hitch hiked as far as I could, and walked the rest of the way."

"You walked to Gravity Falls?" Ford blinked. "All the way from _Virginia?_ "

"I had to," she shrugged without looking at him. "Bill showed me things in the dreams. That I had to come to Gravity Falls to find something special. That it was the only way to bring my family back."

"What _exactly_ did he tell you to find?" Ford asked gradually.

"... A portal."

It went dead silent in the room. Hardly anyone dared to breath to break the stillness.

"... I see," Ford scratched his chin eventually, a strange look on his face. "So that's what brought you all the way here. Bill Cipher. Is that why you tattooed yourself?"

"This?" Viola patted her arm, rolling up the sleeve of Mabel's sweater to show the odd triangle marks. "Oh, I didn't do this. I've had these for as long as I can remember. It's like... like a weird birthmark."

"So why try to get rid of us?" Dipper looked up from his journal, finally ceasing his writing. "What was the point?"

"Bill told me that y-you two were dangerous," Viola said quietly. "He said that you would 'jeopardize the plans'. That's when I asked him what sorts of plans he was talking about."

"And what did he say?" Grunkle Stan sat forward, unblinking.

"He wouldn't answer any of my questions..." she answered. "So I kept asking more questions. I wanted to know why he couldn't just bring my parents back. Why he could tell me so many secret things but not any of the answers that I wanted to know. Why it was so important to _him_ to find this portal. That's when he started getting angry. I'm not _stupid,_ " Viola scowled. "I figured out that he was feeding me lies. So I started ignoring him when he tried talking to me again. That just made him madder. Then he just... vanished. Good riddance, too."

"And... how long ago was this?" Ford asked tensely.

"Days?" she guessed. "Weeks? Hours? I-I'm not entirely sure. My sense of time always seemed to go off whenever he talked to me."

"I see..." Stanford nodded again after a long, uncomfortable minute of quiet. "Well," he clapped his hands, rubbing them together. "I think that's quite enough for one night."

Grunkle Stan blinked, glancing over to his brother.

"What?" he leaned back. "That's it? It was just getting interesting!"

"We can pick this up in the morning," Stanford said quickly, odd gleam in his eyes behind his glasses. "If Bill really is back, then even if the Shack is magic-proofed, we have a lot of work to do. I never repaired the device to Bill-proof one's mind; I assumed we were rid of him forever, so it's just been collecting dust. I've got to have it operational by morning," he stood at last, tucking his hands into the pockets of his tan jacket. "I'll be in the basement if anyone needs me. Stanley? Would you kindly see to it that this young lady is accommodated to the guest room?"

"What, for free?"

Everyone stared at Grunkle Stan for a long, long moment.  
"Jeez, take it easy," he pulled at the collar of his shirt. "It was just a joke. Lighten up."

"Bill is _back,_ " Dipper stood as well, running a hand through his hair. "After Weirdmageddon, Bill is _back,_ and you want us to _lighten up?!_ "

"We beat him last time, right?" Grunkle Stan shrugged. "Even if I don't exactly remember all of it, we still kicked his triangular yellow tush. We can do it again."

"That's the spirit!" Ford clapped him on the shoulder. "Well, good night, everyone. I'll see you all in the morning."

And with that, he left, leaving them all in an awkward silence.

"So... all in favor of freaking out?" Soos raised a hand.

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A/N

Hey all! Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy the story. Let me know how I'm doing! :D

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	5. Chapter 5

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Dipper did not sleep at all that night.

He stared up at the wooden ceiling, arms crossed. His head was still pounding terribly, but it was manageable. He let out a quiet sigh, which seemed much louder in the silence of the room.

"... Mabel?" Dipper asked eventually.

"'Sup?" she asked without opening her eyes.

"I can't sleep."

"Me neither."

"I can't stop thinking-"

"That's why you've gotta turn your brain off every now and then, brosheph," Mabel answered sleepily.

"I don't trust that girl as far as I can throw her," Mabel could hear the frown in his voice.

"Me neither..." she answered, rolling over to face him. "But, meh. What are we gonna do?"

"Well, I know what _I'm_ going to do," Dipper grumbled and slowly crawled out of bed. "I'm keeping watch on this 'Viola' just in case she tries anything."

He dressed as quickly and quietly as he could, earning an odd look from Mabel. He crept out of the room silently, and it wasn't long before he had acquired a wooden chair from the kitchen and quietly set it down against the wall opposite the guest room where Viola was currently staying.

Dipper sat for what felt like hours, arms crossed tightly. His eyes drooped and slowly closed many times, but he fought off sleep every time.

She was up to _something._ And when she tried it, he was going to be ready.

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Far, far away, beneath a cloudless starlit sky on the sandy banks of a beach, there stood a simple little house. Built of brick and steel with a large number of plants growing around it, it was the only building for several miles. A short white picket fence surrounded it, and rose bushes grew up and over the fence wildly.

The inside of the sturdy little home was almost entirely dark, aside from a small room adjacent the rolling ocean, where a cool breeze wafted in through the open glass double doors. A circle of stubby, rarely used blue candles burned brightly against the dark, and in the center with his legs crossed Indian style sat a thin, wiry young man easily in his early twenties with slicked back blonde hair. He wore black dress pants, black shoes, and black suspenders against a plain white shirt, a little bowler hat sitting just outside the ring of candles. He chanted quietly to himself, ancient and old words that Eddie Odd had collected and learned through many years of practice and learning.

Eddie sat like this for a long, long while, the heat of the burning candles slowly filling the room. He kept his eyes closed and breathed in the incense deeply, letting his mind drift along with the wind.

And then, without warning, the world simply... _shifted._

He was no longer sitting calmly in the ring of candles, but was drifting, soaring on updrafts of ocean wind, color and sound melting into one focal sensation before he slipped entirely into a meditative state, enraptured by the communion spell.

"Edward?"

Eddie nearly lost focus as he heard his friend and mentor's cracking voice. He forced himself to maintain focus, narrowing in on the source of the voice until the vision became clear. Before him stood a man even taller than him, wizened by years. He wore a simple brown robe that just barely reached the floor. He stood with a hunched back, leaning against a warped wooden cane, and his frizzy white beard moved with his smile. His eyes, however, displayed an intensity that was almost frightening, shining with their bright blue glisten in the dark. His whole body was ethereal, and Eddie could see him, but also see through him as if he were no more than a thick fog.

"Doc," Eddie breathed, trying not to let his hands shake. "I-I can't believe I actually found you...!"

"I don't have much time, Edward," the old man named Doc explained quickly. "I need your help."

"You – you _what?"_ Eddie's voice wavered. "That's... that's all you have to say? Fifteen years, and all you have to say is 'I need your help'?!"

"Edward, _listen,_ " Doc's smile faltered, but never faded. "There isn't much time to explain everything – I have one final mission for you."

"Are you _kidding me?_ "

"This is _important!_ " Doc pleaded, and Eddie froze. Doc never sounded so... drained, so fearful. "Edward, you're the only one who can do this. The Wave is coming."

Eddie froze and nearly dropped his concentration altogether.

"Are-are you sure?" he hardly dared to breathe.

"It is coming," the ghostly old man nodded gravely. "A terrible force has returned to the world. A force which, if allowed to run unchecked, will bring a tidal wave of weirdness to the world and wreak havoc amongst humanity. The last magus has resurfaced, and I have all of my best working on tracking him."  
Eddie Odd stared at him for a few seconds before sighing and bowing his head.

"Sounds like oodles of fun," he shook his head sadly before giving the old man a fierce grin. "Where's my center stage this time?"

"To the north," Doc met his gaze. "In a little town called Gravity Falls."

0-0-0-0-0

The sun was out, the birds were chirping happily with their brethren in the trees, and a cool morning breeze wafted through the open windows. The pine trees swayed this way and that, the sounds of the forest meeting their ears as Dipper and Mabel joined Grunkle Stan for breakfast. Their great uncle sat as usual in his favorite suit and tie, reading a half folded newspaper.

"Yeesh," Grunkle Stan stared at Dipper as he poured himself a bowl of cereal. "And I thought you looked bad _yesterday._ Did you even sleep, kid?"

"Yeah, of course," Dipper lied, eyes drooping as he tried to pour milk.

"Really?" Mabel asked, grabbing the cereal for herself. "Because I thought you said-"

Dipper suddenly had a mysterious coughing fit in which he shook his head several times, and Mabel nodded inconspicuously.

"Well, I hope you're both well rested," Grunkle Stan looked them over once. "Because we've got a long day of fleecin' rubes ahead of us. I need you two to go hand out these fliers for the Mystery Shack," he produced a large bundle of leaflets reading _Not A Scam!_ on the front.

"Yay! Trip to town!" Mabel cheered.

"Grunkle Stan?" Dipper asked after a moment. "I thought that you put Soos in charge of the Mystery Shack?"

"And?" he blinked. "What, you think I'm just gonna up and retire _before_ making as much money as possible?" Grunkle Stan scoffed. "Man, you must have hit your head pretty hard. By the way, might wanna get a slab of cold meat for that black eye of yours; people are gonna start thinking I'm a terrible great uncle or something."

Dipper grumbled and pulled an ice pack from the freezer, gingerly holding it against his eye as he tried to eat with his opposite hand.

"Still no sign of great uncle Ford?" Dipper asked.

"Nah. Poindexter's still hanging out in the basement, getting freaky with his machines. Man, I really did not think about that statement until I said it. Don't repeat that in front of your mother. On second thought," Grunkle Stan frowned. "Don't repeat that in front of _my_ mother."

"So what are we going to do about tattoo girl?" Mabel asked, kicking her feet back and forth as she finished off her breakfast.

"Pffft, I dunno," Grunkle Stan shrugged. "Not gonna keep getting free room and board on _my_ watch. I guess she can make herself useful and help hand out fliers or something."

"Yes!" Mabel fist pumped the air. "We can make a party out if it, it's gonna be _great!_ "

"Grunkle Stan," Dipper stared with one eye at him. "I don't know about you, but I _really_ don't trust this girl. I mean, she shows up out of nowhere, she has tattoos of _Bill_ for crying out loud, and _nobody_ seems to have a problem with just letting her stay here?"

"Normally, I'd be all for chucking out somebody who doesn't actually pay rent," Grunkle Stan put down his newspaper for a moment. "But you heard the kid last night. I'm not just gonna _throw out_ a homeless kid. What do you take me for, some kinda heartless monster?"

"That's not what I meant," Dipper scowled. "I mean, it's all just too... _convenient,_ don't you think?"

"You-you don't think she might actually be controlled by Bill or something, do you...?" Mabel asked, and Dipper shrugged with a dark look.

"We'd be able to tell by the eyes, I think," he pulled out his journal that Stanford had given him and tried not to yawn, checking over his notes. "But that doesn't mean she might not be working with him somehow."

It was quiet in the kitchen for a little while, aside from the chirruping of birds outside the window.

"Kid," Grunkle Stan said at last. "I know this is gonna sound strange, coming from me, but maybe you're being a little paranoid."

"What?" he spluttered. "Me? _Paranoid?_ "

"Maybe just a teensy bit," Mabel pinched her fingers together. "I mean, Viola seems really nice!"

"Well, thank you."

Dipper dropped the ice pack in surprise to see Viola standing in the doorway, wearing borrowed clothes from Mabel consisting of a pair of jeans and a green sweater with a smiling duck on the front.

"Speak of the devil," Dipper grumbled.

"Thank you again for your gracious hospitality, Mister... Pines, was it?" Viola nodded with a smile to Grunkle Stan. "I haven't slept in a real bed in quite a while. It was lovely."

"Yeesh, really laying on the flattery," Grunkle Stan rolled his eyes, but grinned anyway.

The sound of the bell above the gift shop door went off with the arrival of Soos and Wendy, and Mabel showed Viola the stack of papers Grunkle Stan had given them.

"We're gonna go spread these around town to draw in suckers!" Mabel said proudly as Viola inspected it with a _hmm_. Her head tilted to the side for a moment as if she was trying to listen to something, which nobody but Dipper seemed to notice. "Wanna come with us?"

"Well, I don't see why not..." she shrugged with a small smile. "You know what? Sure! I'd love to!"

"Awesome opossum!" Mabel cheered, throwing both hands up in the air. Unfortunately, that also meant that all of the fliers went up in the air simultaneously, making it rain paper for a few moments. "... Whoops."

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"Thanks again, and make sure to stop by the Mystery Shack for _mystery_ swag!" Mabel shouted after the befuddled woman that she had pushed the flier onto, watching her speedily walk away down the sidewalk. They had spent the majority of the morning handing out the advertisements for the Mystery Shack, and were down to their last few papers before long.

"This doesn't really seem so bad," Viola passed away her last flier to a passing man with an armful of books, placing it neatly atop his stack as he walked by. "I don't understand what all of the fuss was about."

"What, about Grunkle Stan getting unpaid labor?" Dipper grumbled.

"Don't listen to Lord Dippington over there," Mabel said flippantly as she passed away her remaining fliers by dropping them all into the baby carriage of a passing woman, who seemed more than a little displeased with her. "He's just snarky because he didn't get much sleep last night."

Dipper mumbled something to himself as he passed out his last papers and yawned wearily.

"... I guess if that's it we can head back to the Shack," Dipper shrugged eventually.

"What?" Mabel scoffed. "We're done with the fliers, so now we can totally show Viola around Gravity Falls!"

"Are you sure you wouldn't prefer to just go back to the Shack?" Dipper asked tiredly.

"What do you think, Vi?" Mabel turned to Viola, who was staring off into space. "... Viola?"

"What?" she blinked suddenly, green eyes wide as she turned to them. "Oh. Y-yes. Of course. Naturally."

"See?" Mabel grinned. "She agrees with me! Let's go!"

"Mabel," Dipper tried to say before both his and Viola's hands were grabbed by Mabel, who was powerwalking as fast as she could up the sidewalk.

"Over here is a comic book place," Mabel pointed out as she released them, excitedly jabbing to all sorts of buildings. "And here's an ice cream shop! And a shoe store! And an arcade!" she pointed off to the left. "And a candy store! I love that place – ooh! And a terrible news reporter!"

"Nice to see you again too, Pines twins," Toby the reporter deadpanned through his open window, slamming it shut a moment later.

"We're friends with that guy," Mabel beamed, but Dipper only shook his head.

"This seems like such a quaint little town..." Viola smiled back. "Thank you again for showing me around. I really appreciate it."

"Aww, no thanks necessary!" she chirped. Viola earned an odd look from Dipper, but didn't seem to notice it. "I can't wait to introduce you to my best friends Candy and Grenda; oh my gosh!" Mabel slapped her forehead open palmed. "I just had the best idea!"

"Mabel, no," Dipper groaned.

"Mabel _yes!_ " she cheered, pulling her phone from her pocket and texting as fast as she could. "We can totally have a girl's night!"

"That sounds... _interesting,_ " Viola said with a twitching smile, trying to hide it behind her hand.

"Aaaaaand _done!_ " Mabel stuffed her phone back in her pocket, grinning ear to ear. "We've gotta get all sorts of junky snack foods for tonight, it's gonna be _so_ awesome!"

Dipper silently resigned himself to yet another long night of no sleep.

0-0-0-0-0

Thankfully, Viola, Mabel and her invited friends had retired to the guest room for their party, but Dipper could still hear them blasting terrible boy band pop music. He groaned into his pillow, his mind abuzz.

Stanford had _still_ not resurfaced from the basement, which was beginning to bother him. Grunkle Stan had informed him that he had even tried the hidden elevator down, but it was apparently locked. Whatever Stanford was still doing was apparently important enough that he wanted to lock everyone else out, but for what reason Dipper could only imagine. Had his great uncle become more reclusive than he remembered?

Then again, if it was pertaining to dealing with Bill again, he wouldn't be surprised if Stanford was working on some incredible new invention that would allow them to be rid of the dream demon once and for all and just wanted to perfect if first before showing anyone. At least, that's what Dipper was trying to convince himself of.

He wasn't doing a very good job of convincing himself.

Dipper sighed and trudged barefoot over to the light switch, flicking it on and dropping into the writing desk before pulling out Stanford's specially made journal. Maybe he could find something to distract himself long enough to fall asleep, even if it meant sleeping sitting up. He pulled the book open and rifled through pages and eventually landing on one with a note at the top reading _Creature 326_. The blackened image of Bill Cipher stared back at him, and Dipper paused a moment to observe Stanford's drawing before flipping to the page of the symbol wheel that he had copied from Viola's back.

There was something there, some piece of information that he was overlooking, but he just couldn't quite seem to confirm what it was. It bothered him deeply, and even more so that nobody else seemed too terribly upset about it.

Just who _was_ this girl?

Dipper distractedly began using his phone's internet browser to search for Craven families in the Virginia area, and as he expected he came up with zero results. He frowned and resumed studying the symbol wheel, thinking. The radiating form of Bill Cipher seemed ominous enough, but his eyes were drawn to the symbols surrounding him once again. Perhaps therein lay a clue as to how to _truly_ get rid of Bill this time. The pair of glasses probably belonged to either his Grunkle Stan or Ford, but on second observation the six fingered hand was obvious as to who it pertained to. Then there was the pentagram with the eye in the center that had been the symbol of Gideon Gleeful, but the child and his family had moved out of Gravity Falls a year ago. Dipper's frown deepened as he thought. The less that he had to deal with Gideon, the better. Even the last time they had met hadn't been on good terms, whether he was siding with them or not.

Then, of course, there was the shooting star and the pine tree. It didn't take much deductive reasoning to figure out what people those were referencing. There was also a question mark that probably symbolized Soos, but then there was the hatchet, which Dipper scratched his head at. Lastly, there were the symbols that he didn't recognize at all, like the bird with outstretched wings and the open book, or the black ball beside the broken staff. He stared down at the wheel, committing everything that he could to memory, his head feeling heavy.

There was _something_ that he was missing, something important, he just couldn't quite put his finger on what that something was.

He roamed over the pages on codes and meandered down a list of magical spells that Stanford had deemed important enough to record. He mumbled one pertaining to a form of sleep aloud to himself as he drew his finger over it, moving on to the next.

Dipper felt his head slowly slip as the weariness and exhaustion of the last few days slowly washed over him, and he had to shake his head to keep himself awake. He wasn't certain how long he had been sitting there, but the music emanating from the guest room must have finally stopped, as it was absolutely dead silent in the Shack. Dipper closed his eyes and let out a quiet sigh of relief, finally letting himself relax for a moment.

"... How on earth did you _get_ here?"

Dipper jerked awake, the morning sunlight pouring in through the window and washing over him. He blinked, looking around the room. He could have _sworn_ that he heard the voice of an old man just beside him, but instead shook it off as an odd dream. He yawned and scribbled a note down in the journal reminding himself to ask Stanford about further emphasis on the dream spells. One never knew, it might even come in handy when combating Bill.

If only things were that simple.

0-0-0-0-0

Duh brx kdssb qrz, Mhqqlihu?

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A/N

Hey all! Thanks for reading, I really hope you liked it. Next chapter should be a bit longer, and thanks for all the reviews. If you liked it, please let me know how I'm doing! :D


	6. Chapter 6

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"Morning everybody," Dipper yawned as he dragged himself into the gift shop. He was dressed in shorts and a tee shirt with his favorite pocketed vest, his brown hair sticking out from beneath the lumberjack hat.

"Hey dude," Wendy gave him a two fingered salute.

"Mornin' hambone!" Soos beamed down at him. "Man, you look like you had a rough night. Kinda like my Abuelita after too many appletinis."

"I was up studying most of the night," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "I've been trying to decipher that weird symbol wheel ever since... well. Y'know."

"Find anything interesting?" Wendy asked, her feet kicked up on the counter as she pretended to read a magazine.

"Nothing useful," Dipper grumbled, leaning against the counter.

"Ah, don't be like that, dude," she ruffled the dog eared lumberjack hat on his head, earning a small grin from him. "All sorts of things you learn are useful."

"Like butterflies!" Soos interjected. "Did you know that some of them eat manure?"

"Well," Dipper gave an awkward laugh. "Make sure to never let a butterfly land on me again, then."

"Never thought I'd see the day that Dipper Pines is afraid of butterflies," Wendy chuckled, and Dipper felt a heat growing in his neck.

"I-I, well, what I mean to say is-"

He paused when he saw Grunkle Stan marching through the gift shop, punching in the code to open up the 'secret' passage behind the vending machine.

"... Grunkle Stan?"

"Eh?" the older man gave him a half glance. "Morning, kid. Just checkin' on Ford."

"Great uncle Ford is _still_ down there?" Dipper asked incredulously.

"Dude, it's been _days,_ " Wendy frowned. "I thought he said he'd only be down there for a little while?"

"Well, obviously he's terrible at keeping track of time," Grunkle Stan scowled. "I've gotta drag him away from his nerd stuff every once in a while, or otherwise I swear the guy'd forget to eat without me."

"I'm coming too," Dipper said quickly, following his great uncle into the small set of stairs behind the vending machine.

"Soos? Wendy?" Grunkle Stan said just before closing it behind him. "Keep an eye on the shop for me."

"You got it, Mister Pines!" Soos said with a large smile and an attempted salute. Instead he knocked over a postcard rack, sending them all flying.

"I will comply with as little effort as possible," Wendy shrugged without looking up from her magazine.

"I'd fire you both if I could." Grunkle Stan grunted before closing the vending machine behind him.

"Um... Grunkle Stan?"

"Yeah, kid."

"Great uncle Ford is... okay, right?" he asked as they stood before the elevator, and Grunkle Stan punched the buttons for it to operate.

"I'm sure he's fine," he said without much conviction as the elevator opened up. "He just never answers that cellphone he's got. Kinda makes me wonder why he ever got one in the first place if he never _answers_ the friggin' thing."

"Maybe there's no cell reception underground...?" Dipper offered weakly as the elevator began to descend. He only earned another grunt from Grunkle Stan as the elevator finally rolled to a stop at Stanford's study. The elevator door slowly creaked open, and Grunkle Stan led Dipper into the dark room.

"Can't see a thing in here..." Grunkle Stan frowned. "Why are all the lights off?"

"Hang on," Dipper whipped out his phone and flicked a couple of things. A bright light flickered on, and Grunkle Stan stared at him.

"... What?"

"Wait, cellphones have _flashlights_ in 'em now-? Oh. Oh god. Oh god."

Ford's hidden room was an utter disaster.

Bits of machinery was scattered all over the place, looking as if something had been violently dismantled. There was a large amount of broken glass and twisted metal lying about, and nearly everything was covered in slips of paper that all had a triangle with an eye in the center of them. Stan and Dipper stood in shocked silence for what felt like hours, just observing the carnage.

"... Ford?" Grunkle Stan croaked at last, peering about the room for his brother. "Ford? Stanford?!"

"M-maybe he's on the lower level...?" Dipper asked nervously.

"Into the elevator," Grunkle Stan pushed him quickly. "Come on!"

They swiftly returned to the elevator and Grunkle Stan fumbled to push the buttons, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet as they ever so slowly began to descend once again.

"Come on, come on...!" Stan's hands were shaking.

Then all of a sudden, the elevator stopped.

At first, Dipper thought that Grunkle Stan had accidentally pushed the wrong button and sent them to the top again. However, it only took him a moment to realize that the elevator wasn't going up – they were. Gravity was reversing itself as they rose into the air for several moments.

Then the lights went out, and they fell.

Dipper and Grunkle Stan screamed as they went plummeting to the earth, crashing and tumbling down. It was over in moments however, and the lights flickered back on. The door opened partially up with a little _ding_ and Grunkle Stan scrambled to his feet along with Dipper, who was pretty sure that he had nearly been crushed by his great uncle.

"Ford!" Grunkle Stan screamed as he forced the door open with his eight ball cane, shoving through and closely followed by Dipper. "Stanford! What the _hell_ is going on-?"

The shocked silence that followed was so thick that it could have been cut with a knife.

Aside from the two of them, the laboratory was completely empty. The last bit of flickering light came from the reconstructed portal as it was powering down, leaving them in relative darkness.

"... Ford?" Grunkle Stan's voice came out wavering as he approached the gigantic upside down steel triangle with a hole through the center.

"Grunkle Stan?" Dipper felt as if he were gliding along, his whole body feeling numb from shock. "Did-did he...?"

"God help us. He used it," Grunkle Stan choked, his grip on his cane growing so tight that his knuckles went white. He stood directly in front of the lever with a large red button on it, pressing it multiple times to no avail. Grunkle Stan just kept pressing it over and over, staring up at the now spent portal."Just enough juice for one jump. That... _maniac_ actually used it."

"He-he wouldn't," Dipper rushed out, but stopped when Grunkle Stan turned to face him. He had never seen anyone look so totally, absolutely defeated. "He wouldn't! Great uncle Ford wouldn't just _leave_ -"

"He's gone, kid." Stan's voice was soft, but cracking. "It's happening all over again. He's gone."

The words echoed throughout the laboratory just as much as they did Dipper's numb mind.

 _He's gone._

0-0-0-0-0

"Huuurg," Mabel groaned aloud as she pushed herself off the floor. She pulled a bit of cotton candy from her hair and stuffed it into her mouth. "What _happened_ last night?"

She heard Grenda moan from her position on the floor, lying face down with both of her hands duct taped to a couple of empty cola cans. Candy seemed to be the only one who actually slept in the sleeping bag that she brought, and she yawned as she pushed herself up from the floor.

"Good morning, Mabel," Candy hid her yawn behind her hand. "Did you sleep well?"

"I think I still have cotton candy in my ear," Mabel pulled off one of the gummy koalas from her nightshirt and popped it into her mouth. "You?"

"I did not know that with my body propensity I could maintain that level of sugar," she mused aloud, tapping a finger to her chin. "What about you, friend of Mabel?"

Both girls turned to look into the corner where Viola had been sleeping; or, supposedly sleeping. At the moment she was sitting stock still in with her face in the corner, arms wrapped tightly around her legs.

"... Viola?" Mabel asked eventually, glancing awkwardly back to Candy. "You, uh, alright there?"

Viola did not answer. Mabel stood and shuffled over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. At the slightest touch Viola fell to the side, revealing that her eyes were completely rolled back into her head and a slight amount of drool was falling from her mouth. She was rapidly muttering something under her breath that she couldn't quite hear, and Mabel glanced uneasily back to Candy.

"I'm no expert on these things, but that does not seem to be normal," Candy stated.

"Oh man... I knew I shouldn't have talked her into chugging Pit cola!"

Then they, along with everything else, began to rise into the air for a few moments before crashing back down.

Grenda slammed down onto the floor with a _whump!_ and jolted awake.

"Who has the balls to body slam Grenda?" she shouted in confusion.

Viola jerked out of her reverie, blinking rapidly and wiping her mouth with her sleeve.

"What?" she rubbed the side of her head uneasily from the bizarre looks that she was getting from both Candy and Mabel. "What happened?"

"That was strange," Candy said simply. "There haven't been any notable gravitational fluctuations in Gravity Falls for nearly-"  
"A year," Mabel finished for her numbly, standing.

"Well, no, actually. It has occurred pretty regularly for a few months now. Why?"

"I've... got to check on something, guys. Be right back."

Mabel made it to the bathroom and splashed some cold water on her face before quickly traipsing downstairs, where she was surprised to see that the gift shop was in disarray. Merchandise was all over the floor, postcards were scattered as if thrown about haphazardly, and Soos and Wendy were in a quiet heated discussion that she didn't quite catch before reaching them.

"... Guys?" she asked, looking about the demolished room.

"What's up, hambone?" Soos asked, but it was clear that he was uncomfortable.

"I'm not crazy, right?" Mabel looked to Wendy before glancing around the gift shop. "That thing with the gravity just happened again, right?"

"Dudes, I have got the worst feeling about this right now," Soos toyed with the hem of his shirt, looking back and forth between them. "You know how you leave a burrito in the microwave for just long enough to heat up the outside but you just _know_ there's something wrong with the inside? It's like that, dudes, but with, like, everything else."

Mabel jumped in surprise to see the secret passage behind the vending machine open up, and out shuffled a very disheveled looking Stan and Dipper.

"Dip? Grunkle Stan?" she asked incredulously.

"Mabel," Dipper said in an uneven voice. "We've got problems. _Big_ problems."

"Same here," Mabel started. "There was this thing with Viola-"

"I mean bigger problems than that," Dipper's voice cracked. "G-great uncle Ford is gone."

Mabel looked back and forth between her twin and her great uncle, an uneasy smile starting to show on her face.

"W-what?" she gave a half laugh. "You-you guys are just joshing with me, r-right? Right? … Guys?"

"Stanford actually did it," Grunkle Stan leaned heavily against his eight ball cane, breaking the horridly uncomfortable silence in the shop. "This whole time, he told me that he was just using that machine of his to test 'temporal transferrence' or something – I can't believe I actually bought that crap," he pinched the bridge of his nose, his shoulders shaking slightly. "He ditched us. He used the portal and freakin' left us to deal with Bill on our own!"

"Maybe-maybe this is all just a big misunderstanding..." Dipper tapped his fingers together awkwardly. "Maybe he was, I don't know... trying to figure out how to stop Bill on his own?"

"Are you kidding me?" Grunkle Stan asked incredulously, and Dipper felt a heat growing in his neck. "This is _just_ like him! Leave everybody but himself neck deep while he just up and disappears!"

"Great uncle Ford isn't like that!" Mabel rejected him. "He-he wouldn't...!"

"Face it, kid," Grunkle Stan slowly retreated to the darkened living room, his head hanging low. He gripped the door frame with his spare hand, as if the worn wood was all that was keeping him standing. "Family obviously just wasn't important enough to Poindexter. We're on our own."

There was a stunned silence throughout the entire shack for what felt like hours.

Grenda and Candy eventually collected their things as Mabel explained the situation to them.

"So... your great uncle really did invent a portal device," Viola mused aloud, watching as Candy and Grenda packed their belongings from the sleepover.

"I can't believe he's just... _gone,_ " Mabel repeated numbly, staring at the wall. "Great uncle Stanford never _seemed_ like the type of guy to do something like this... it-it just doesn't make any _sense._ "

"Perhaps he had an ulterior motive for his actions?" Candy suggested. "I agree with your notion. He did not appear to be the kind of man who is easily disheartened or cowardly."

"I bet he's taking the fight right to that stupid triangle!" Grenda slammed a fist into her palm. "Just like last time, right?"

"Yeah, except last time he tried that Bill turned him into a solid gold statue," Mabel frowned. Viola had suddenly become very uncomfortable, and refused to meet anyone's gaze. There was a honking sound from outside the Mystery Shack, and Candy sighed.

"That would be for us," she gave Mabel a quick hug, as did Grenda, however the latter of the two actually picked her up and gave her a swing through the air first.

"I'll catch you guys later..." Mabel still felt slightly hollow, and it reflected in her voice.

"I am sure that whatever his reason, your great uncle will be back soon," Candy attempted to soothe her, but was distracted by the honking outside again. "Make sure to keep in touch!"

"You got it guys," Mabel nodded, her head feeling stiff. "I'll catch you later."

It was quiet in the wrecked guest room for a little while, the awkward silence feeling almost deafening.

"So," Mabel clapped her hands together, turning toward Viola. "Did you know that you say some really weird stuff in your sleep?"

If she had been expecting some sort of rational response from Viola, Mabel would have been disappointed. To her surprise, Viola instead rapidly turned a vibrant hue of pink, her eyes widening and mouth clamping shut.

"Uh... hello?" Mabel gave a little wave. "Earth to Viola? You in there?"

"Y-yes, of course," she answered at last, looking away. "I'm just... I-I'm sorry about your uncle."

"Candy's probably right," Mabel said without much conviction as she gave one of the empty soda cans a weak kick. "He's probably just doing some super secret stuff that he wouldn't want to share with anyone and already has a plan to kick Bill's yellow butt. Probably."

Viola didn't say anything, merely drawing her legs up underneath her borrowed sweater.

"Are things every really that simple?" Viola asked quietly. Mabel didn't seem to have an answer for her.

0-0-0-0-0

"Alright, so, getting everyone's minds Bill-proofed turned out to be a total bust," Dipper said as he paced before the collection of Mystery Shack employees and his sister, along with Grunkle Stan and Viola. Grunkle Stan sat in his recliner while Viola and Mabel shared the couch, leaving Soos and Wendy to stand to the side as Dipper went over a flip chart on a little wooden stand.

"So what are we supposed to do now?" Wendy asked. "I mean, the Shack is still magic-proofed, right? What are we supposed to do, just never leave the Shack again?"

"As much as I would like to agree with Wendy on not leaving the Mystery Shack," Soos tapped his fingers together awkwardly. "I think we might actually have to leave every once in a while. I mean, like, what happens if we run out of snacks, dudes?"

"Soos, I didn't say that we should never- ah, forget it," Wendy waved him off.

"We need a plan of action," Dipper rolled a chewed pen in his hands as he paced. "We can't afford to leave Bill on the loose again, _especially_ after Weirdmageddon."

Everyone in the room aside from the tattooed girl shuddered simultaneously.

"So what do we do, then?" Mabel frowned, pulling her arms into her sweater. "We don't all have Bill Cipher resistant metal plates in our heads. And before you say it, I do _not_ want that type of surgery."

"I wasn't going to suggest it," he deadpanned. "Though it's not _totally_ illogical. No, I have a better idea."

Dipper withdrew the red journal with a number four on the front, flipping through it until he found what he was looking for.

"Hey," Grunkle Stan perked up suddenly. "Did-did Poindexter leave any memos or notes on what he was planning?"

"Unfortunately, no," Dipper ran a finger down the page. "But just because we don't have any way to _mechanically_ Bill-proof our heads doesn't mean that there isn't a way to _magically_ Bill-proof ourselves."

"You've gotta be kidding..." Wendy crossed her arms.

"Oh, I think I got it!" Soos snapped his fingers.

"Right," Dipper nodded. "Fight fire with-"  
"Fire?"  
"I was going to say magic," Dipper shook his head. "Great uncle Ford left all sorts of experimental magical barrier incantations under his subsection on arcane repellents-"

"Yeah, that's great and all," Grunkle Stan rolled his eyes. "But can you repeat that in English, please?"

Dipper scowled, flipping up the pages on the flip chart in front of everyone and revealing a large diagram of the human brain connected by lines to all sorts of different images, ranging from a picture of the Mystery Shack to a closed box. The image of the mind was connected to an elongated head showing a depiction of the titled mindscape and nightmarescape.

"I think there's a method in the journal that great uncle Ford gave me," Dipper twirled his pen in his hands for a moment, looking between them all. "That I think can be modified to prevent Bill from taking any of us over."

"I'm not sure I'm entirely behind the idea of using magic instead of just punching him in the eye..." Wendy pulled at the tip of her red hair, thinking aloud. "But, hey, if it works then more power to us."

"So how exactly is this supposed to even work?" Grunkle Stan frowned, adjusting his glasses. "You just say some mumbo jumbo and we're clear of Bill?"

"I _wish_ it were that easy," Dipper grumbled. "I think from great uncle Ford's notes, it should be possible to enter the mindscape," he pointed up at the chart. "And from there we should be able to develop a form of temporary mental barrier to prevent anything from entering through the nightmarescape. It won't keep him out forever, but it should at least buy us some time."

"What?" Grunkle Stan stared at him. "So, just go poking around in somebody's head and hope for the best? You're starting to sound like a guidance counselor, kid. And you don't even have a degree for that."

"Well, me, Dipper and Soos have all been in _your_ head before," Mabel added, to which he balked at her.

"Wait, _what?_ "

"You've been awfully quiet about this whole thing," Wendy said with a piercing glare to Viola, who only shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Considering that you're the last person who actually had Bill Cipher in her head, you don't seem to have much of an opinion on any of this."

"W-well..." Viola said with a quavering breath, her cheeks tinged a light shade of pink as everyone stared at her. "I mean, you realize that there's no such thing as magic, right?"

It was quiet for only a moment.

Then Viola was nearly bowled over from everyone's laughter.

"Ha! No magic, she says," Grunkle Stan wiped his eye beneath his glasses with his forefinger.

"Dude, you really haven't been in Gravity Falls for very long, have you?" Soos asked with a chuckle, and Viola's face went even pinker. "It's cool, dude. You sorta get used to weird stuff around here."

"But-but that's just silly!" Viola insisted. "There's no such _thing_ as magic. It's like fairies, or ghosts-"

"Both of which have been caught, studied and recorded," Dipper flipped open the journal to a page on levels of specters. Viola only stared at him with her mouth slightly agape, looking to someone, anyone else for support.

"... You're all serious," she said after a moment of studiously inspecting their faces.

"As serious as a fake heart attack," Grunkle Stan nodded once.

"So when can we start, Dip?" Mabel asked.

"I'll need some ingredients and reagents prepared beforehand," Dipper said as he rechecked the journal. "Some chalk, some candles and incense – you know, totally inconspicuous stuff to buy."

"Buy?" Grunkle Stan snorted. "What do you think I am, made of money? It's _way_ cheaper to just steal stuff!"

"Grunkle Stan?" Dipper blinked. "Didn't great uncle Ford make literally thousands of dollars off of his patents?"

"Meh. Old habits die hard."

0-0-0-0-0

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0-0-0-0-0

A/N

Hey all! Thanks for reading, hope you're enjoying the story. More chapters should be on the way soon!


	7. Chapter 7

0-0-0-0-0

"You know the drill, kids," Grunkle Stan said to them as they pulled haphazardly into a parking space at the Gravity Falls general store.

"We know, we know," Mabel reassured him. "Cheapest bottom of the barrel stuff we can find, we got it."

"Make sure that anything you get is damaged or something. Really try to sucker 'em into a discount."

"Are you sure that scrimping on something like this is such a good idea?" Dipper frowned. "I mean, we're talking about warding off a literal demon here. _Maybe_ being cheap isn't such a good idea-"

"Blasphemy!" Grunkle Stan scoffed. "Dream demon or not, we're getting this junk of yours on _my_ dime. Now go get your hocus pocus junk already so we can get this show on the road. I've got soap op- I mean, _boxing_ matches to catch up on."

"How do you catch up on boxing?" Mabel asked.

"With your fists, _duh_."

Mabel shook her head and followed Dipper inside, the warm morning air brushed away by the blast of coolness from within the general store. There was a single blond clerk chewing bubble gum and reading a magazine behind the counter, and Mabel gave a useless friendly wave to her before traipsing after her brother.

Then, just out of the corner of her eye, she spotted something blue. When she blinked however it was gone, and she frowned as she stared at the spot down the aisle. She shrugged halfheartedly, pushing it to the back of her mind. It was probably just another short customer.

"Alright..." Dipper began putting things into a handbasket. "Candles, check..."

"I've got the chalk! I'm gonna taste it!" Mabel pulled a packet of brightly multicolored chalk sticks from the rack. It didn't take them long to find incense as well, although Dipper scrunched up his nose at the scent.

"Yech," he scowled. "Who actually buys _onion_ scented incense?"

"Well, us, apparently."

"Only because it's the only one that they actually have," Dipper frowned at her. "I think this is everything that we need – come on, let's go-go check... out..."

Dipper trailed off, staring somewhere behind Mabel.

"... Dipper?" Mabel snapped her fingers together in front of his eyes. "Dip dip? Hello?"

"Sorry," he shook his head quickly, moving down the aisle. "Just... thought I saw something strange is all."

"What?" she checked behind her, seeing nothing.

"Probably just a trick of the light," Dipper answered quickly. "Come on, we'd better hurry up before Grunkle Stan makes us walk back to the Shack or something."

"Pffft, he wouldn't do that..." Mabel rolled her eyes. "... Probably."

"Still, I'd prefer that we finish this up as quickly and efficiently as possible. Who _knows_ what Bill could be plotting."

"Well, when you put it like that, you make it sound like the end of the world is coming or something."

They paid for their items rapidly, and Dipper continuously checked behind himself for something that didn't seem to be there. He hurried out in a rush with Mabel close behind, and a quick glance to the sky revealed that heavy storm clouds were brewing once again, a possible thunderstorm on the horizon.

"Well, that's not ominous or foreboding in any way," Mabel shrugged.

Dipper threw one hand up in the air with an agitated grunt.

"Are you _kidding_ me?" Dipper yelled.

"Um..." Mabel put a finger to her chin. "Could have sworn Grunkle Stan parked right here..."

"He left!" Dipper stamped a foot against the ground. "I can't believe this; he actually left without us!"

"Maybe he just... really had to go to the bathroom or something...?" Mabel asked uncertainly.

"This isn't happening," Dipper pinched the bridge of his nose. "First great uncle Ford, now Grunkle Stan – anyone _else_ planning on taking off unexpectedly?"

Mabel was already walking down the road.

"Hey!" he shouted after her, lugging the plastic bag over his shoulder. "Mabel, wait up! Where are you even going?"  
"Walking back to the Mystery Shack," she said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, pulling her cellphone from her pocket. "That's probably where Grunkle Stan went, right? Besides, it would be best if we got there _before_ it starts raining on us."

Mabel punched in a few numbers as they walked, and after a few moments she frowned and retyped them in.

"... He's not picking up," Mabel said after a few attempts. Her smile faded slowly as she glanced over to Dipper, calling yet again. "He always picks up when I call. Do you think...?"

"He's probably back at the Shack," Dipper said determinedly. "I'm sure that's where he is. There's probably nothing to worry about."

It was a long walk back to the Mystery Shack. The winding dirt road leading to the newly paved lot before the Shack felt like it had taken hours to walk, and Dipper briefly wondered how Wendy managed to bike the whole way every morning. He could just imagine her vibrant red hair flying behind her as the world sped away-

"Ow!" Dipper rubbed his nose after bumping directly into Mabel. "Mabel, what-"

"He's not here," Mabel said dejectedly. And she was correct, their Grunkle Stan's worn red speedster was nowhere to be seen.

"What?" Dipper blinked, panic and uncertainty rising in his chest. "Have you tried calling him again?"

"Sixteen times," Mabel frowned, picking up pace as they approached the Shack. "I've got a bad feeling about this, Dip."

"Yo, hambones!" Soos greeted them warmly as they entered the gift shop. "How'd the shopping trip go?"

"Grunkle Stan left without us," Dipper grumbled, earning an odd look from Wendy behind the counter.  
"Oh, man, seriously?" Wendy blinked in surprise. "That's heavy, dude."

"He isn't picking up his phone, either," Mabel tapped her pink cellphone uncomfortably. "And I set his ringtone to super loud cats meowing so that I _know_ he'd hear it!"

"Hey, you know how Stan is about technology that comes after the eighties," Wendy tried soothing her, seeing how distressed she was and pulling at her hair. "Maybe he just isn't sure how to, you know, answer a touch screen phone?"

"That _does_ sound like Grunkle Stan..." Mabel sighed, putting her phone back in her pocket.

"Yeah, but don't you remember what he said?" Dipper frowned, beginning to pace. "He said that he wanted to hurry back to catch up on his television show; if he's not _here,_ then where else could he be?"

"Dudes, dudes," Wendy hopped over the counter, putting a hand on each of their shoulders. Dipper's heart jumped into his throat for a moment, and he tried to ignore the sudden sweat that was beading on him.

"Y-yeah?" he breathed eventually.

"I've got this under control," Wendy whipped out her own cellphone, giving it a number of rapid taps. "You guys went to the general store up town, right?"

"Right," Mabel and Dipper nodded simultaneously.

"So," she rolled her hand through the air with a grin. "Just gotta call 'em and ask them to check their security cameras. From there we can figure out which direction Stan went and trail him from there."

"Wendy, you're a genius," Dipper beamed up at her, secretly a little jealous that he hadn't thought of that idea first.

She gave him a thumbs up as she waited on the phone for a moment.

"Uh huh," they heard her say at last. "Yeah, Corduroy. I'm calling in that favor. I need you to – oh, quit griping, it's _one_ little thing – I need you to check your security cameras for a red car that came in a little bit ago. Had an old guy and a couple of kids – sorry, _teenagers,_ " she gave them a wink, and Dipper felt a heat rise in his stomach.

"See dudes?" Wendy held her hand over the receiver. "Totally got it under control."

"I'll bet Mister Pines just forgot what he was doing again," Soos gave them a weak grin. "That happened the last time I rode with him."

"He made you walk back to the Shack?"

"Uh, no, it was more like he fell asleep behind the wheel a few times, but that's neither here nor there."

Wendy held a finger up for silence, and after a minute her expression shifted from that of discomfort to outright fear. She gave a quiet thanks to the person on the other end of the phone and hung up, staring at her phone for a moment. The color had completely drained from her face, and she gazed unblinkingly at them for a long few seconds.

"... Wendy?" Dipper asked. "Uh... what did they say?"

"You aren't going to believe this," she breathed shakily. "But the last person to get into the car before he drove off was... you."

"... Oh, crap."

0-0-0-0-0


	8. Chapter 8

0-0-0-0-0

"Oh man. Oh man, oh man oh man oh man...!"

Dipper paced furiously back and forth across the gift shop, waving his hands about haphazardly. Thunder from the oncoming storm rumbled overhead, promising of rain coming soon.

"Do you think it's the shapeshifter?" Mabel asked worriedly.

"Who else _could_ it be?" Dipper pulled off his dog eared lumberjack hat and ran a hand worriedly through his hair. "Don't you remember what he said?"

"He'll come for us," Wendy suppressed a slight shiver. "One by one."

"But-but Mister Pines is... he's okay, right...?" Soos held his hat in his hands, looking between them uneasily.

"This is the shapeshifter we're talking about," Dipper said with an odd lump forming in his throat. "However it got out of the cryogenic tube doesn't matter anymore. For all we know... Grunkle Stan might already be gone."

All of the remaining color in Soos's face drained away, and his hat fell from his hands to the floor, but he didn't bother to pick it up.

"He-he _can't_ be... y'know..." Soos stared at them, his hands hanging uselessly by his sides. "He just _can't_ be...!"

"Until we can prove otherwise," Wendy pulled her pine tree cap over her eyes. "We have to assume that Mister Pines has been replaced by the shapeshifter."

"First great uncle Ford, and now this..." Dipper held his palms to his eyes, forcing his breathing to remain steady. He could _feel_ the heat radiating off of Mabel beside him, but he struggled to focus anyway.

"... We're going after him."

Everyone turned to stare at Mabel, who stood with her fists balled up.

"Are you crazy-?" Dipper started, but was cut off by his sister.

"We're going after Grunkle Stan," she pounded one fist into her palm. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm not just gonna sit around and let some skin shifting poop head hurt _my_ Grunkle!"

"Mabel's right, dudes!" Soos wiped his eyes with the crook of his elbow, picking up his hat and setting it firmly atop his head. "Mister Pines could be in serious trouble; we've _gotta_ bail him out!"

"But how are we supposed to stop that thing?" Wendy asked him, brushing a lock of red hair from her face. "Even with Mister Pine's weird laser gun thing, it was barely enough to stop it!"

"No, they're right..." Dipper rubbed his eyes furiously, thinking. "We _can't_ let this thing roam loose. Even if it already _has_ k- done something to Grunkle Stan," his voice wavered for a moment, "If we don't stop it there's no telling what kind of havoc it could wreak on the world. We have to find a way to stop this thing, once and for all."

Dipper pulled the bound journal from within his vest, flipping through it carefully until he found what he was looking for.

"Is there anything in the journal about the shapeshifter?" Mabel asked curiously, peering over his shoulder.

"Not very much information," Dipper frowned, running a finger down the page. "But it looks like great uncle Ford managed to create an alchemical concoction that would have trapped the shapeshifter in a single form long just enough to trap it in the cryogenic tube again."

"So what is it?" Wendy asked, cracking her knuckles. "We just gotta brew something up and get him to drink it, right?"

"I don't know how we're going to keep it still long enough for that," Dipper frowned. "Or how we'd convince it to drink it..."

"So don't get it to drink it," Soos shrugged. "Why not just fill up a super soaker with the mojo juice and squirt 'em with that?"

Everyone stared at Soos for a moment.

"... What?" he blinked. "What did I say?"

"Soos," Dipper said excitedly. "That-that just might work!"

"I mean, it's worth a shot, right?" Soos rubbed the back of his neck. "Heh. Shot. Be-because you shoot it. Wow, tough crowd."

"We can make jokes after we save Grunkle Stan," Mabel said seriously.

"If Grunkle Stan is even still alive-"

"Don't _say_ that!" Mabel shouted, and he cringed. "We _will_ save Grunkle Stan! Dipper, you get started on your shapeshifter butt-kicking potion thingie; me and Wendy will make sure everyone is geared up to fight in case we have to go hand to hand with tall dark and ugly."

"You got it," Dipper nodded once. They were interrupted by the sound of someone trudging down the stairs, and they all stared as Viola greeted the group with a stifled yawn.

"Good morning everyone," Viola hid another yawn behind her hand. She wore her usual jeans and one of Mabel's brightly colored sweaters, this one labeled _Number Two Boss_. "Man, you all look like somebody just died," she said jokingly.

Nobody spoke.

"... Oh god," Viola frowned suddenly, brushing her black bangs from her eyes. "It-it was a _joke_ , I-"

"We think that the shapeshifter might have gotten Grunkle Stan," Dipper explained quietly.

"Grunkle? Wait," Viola looked between him and Mabel. "Mister Pines's brother?"

"Yes," Mabel nodded slowly. "So we're gonna find out where the shapeshifter went, kick the _crap_ out of it and save Grunkle Stan!"

"The shapeshifter," Viola repeated. "As-as in, that... _thing_ that Mister Pines had in his bunker?"

"And now it's loose on the world," Dipper filled her in. Viola's face slowly drained of color. "If we don't stop it now, there's no telling what it could do."

"So there's no time to lose," Wendy pushed Viola and Mabel from the room. "Come on, you two; help me find some protective gear. Soos, help Dipper with whatever he needs!"

"You got it, Wendy!" Soos gave her a salute, knocking the hat from his head once again.

0-0-0-0-0

Thunder rumbled ominously outside, and the trees whipped in the cool wind. It was difficult piling everyone but Wendy into the cab of Soos's truck from the collected parts of old football gear of Grunkle Stan's that they wore, cut and tailored as quickly as possible to fit Dipper, Mabel and Viola (Soos simply wore the helmet) whereas Wendy had hockey pads strapped to herself and rode behind them on her bike. Soos continuously checked the rear view mirror to ensure that Wendy was close behind as they sped down the winding road toward Gravity Falls. Dipper held a plastic rifle in his hands carefully, ensuring that none of the quickly concocted anti-shapeshifting potion would spill. It hadn't taken much, just a few heavily boiled herbs, a lock of hair and a bit of silver scraped off of silverware that Grunkle Stan certainly hadn't obtained legally, but the potion had been created just in time. Dipper was a little proud of himself actually. Granted, the kitchen now smelled horribly of burned metal, but it was certainly an improvement compared to 'mystery meat'.

"Are you sure?" Dipper spoke into the cellphone, checking worriedly back to Wendy, who was riding with the phone pressed to her ear.

"Totally," he heard her say. "I got Tambry on red alert for any El Diablo that looked like Mister Pines's car, and she said that Joseph told her that Craig told him that Phillip told him that Thompson-"

"I got it, I got it," he said hurriedly.

"Sorry, sorry," he saw Wendy whip her head back and forth. "Mister Pines's car was last spotted at a warehouse on the edge of Gravity Falls!"

Dipper nodded and relayed the information carefully to Soos as he drove.

"Hang on, Mister Pines..." Soos readjusted the football helmet atop his head. "We're on the way."

They roared down the main street of Gravity Falls, and Soos swerved around slowly moving cars.

"Sorry dudes!" he shouted out the window. "Kind of an emergency here!"

"Just keep your eyes on the road, Soos," Dipper held the loaded water gun in his hands.

"I second that sentiment," Viola gripped the door handle tightly. "Why am I even _here_ again?"

"What, and miss out on the butt-kicking?" Mabel asked incredulously.

"Because we can't leave you at the Shack by yourself," Dipper said darkly.

"What?" Viola scowled at him. "What did _I_ do?"

The truck hit a speed bump and they all bounced in the air for an uncomfortable moment before crashing back down, and Soos took a sharp turn immediately after.

"Because I don't trust you!" Dipper said over the sound of the engine as they sped up, the warehouse on the hill growing in size as they approached.

"Seriously, what did I _do?_ " Viola met his glare.

"Well, gee," Dipper glowered back at her. "Let's see, great uncle Ford goes missing _right_ after you show up, and then the shapeshifter goes loose immediately after? Like anyone thinks that's _just_ a coincidence?"

Viola stared at him with her mouth agape.

"Are you _serious?_ " she balked at him. "You can't blame that crap on me!"

"Says the person with tattoos of _Bill_ all over her!"

Viola's face went beet red and she turned away, and it was clear from Mabel's and Soos's expressions that they were uncomfortable.

"Uh, dudes?" Soos said as they pulled to a stop beside Grunkle Stan's red speedster. "Like, I get that you're upset and everything," he shifted the truck into a parked position as Wendy rolled in closely behind him. "But can we put the arguing on hold until _after_ we save Mister Pines?"

"We'll talk about this later," Dipper said heatedly, earning a hard poke in the ribs from Mabel. "Ow! What?"

"Move your keister!" Mabel pushed him and Viola out of the truck as Soos equipped himself with an aluminum baseball bat and the metal lid of a trashcan like an impromptu shield. Wendy was approaching them with a hatchet hanging from her belt, her eyes narrowed. "We've gotta save Grunkle Stan, move it move it move it!"

There was an open window on the warehouse where a little trail of smoke was leading out, and Dipper silently motioned for them to move forward with one hand. As nobody else seemed willing to charge in, Dipper took the lead with Mabel close behind with a hockey stick. Viola had no visible weapon but kept her hands tucked deep into her pockets, followed by Wendy with her hatchet drawn. Soos brought up the rear, carefully ensuring that no shapeshifter would take them by surprise. Rain gradually began to pitter and patter down heavily behind them as they entered through the door, muffling the sound of their footsteps as they crept inside.

"Remember," Dipper said in a hushed tone to them all. "Don't let it out of your sights. Don't let it get the jump on you. And whatever you do, do _not_ split the group."

It was dark inside the warehouse. None of the lights were on, but there was a flickering glow emanating from around a large stack of dusty crates. Dipper tried to keep his hands from shaking and he tightened his slightly sweaty grip on the water gun, taking a cautious peek around the corner.

There, maybe twenty feet away, was none other than Grunkle Stan. He sat with his back turned to them all on a wooden crate, hand on the shoulder of the shapeshifter in the form of Dipper. The lowly glowing fire cast long shadows over them, making them dance across the stacks of unused boxes. They were talking lowly to themselves, and Dipper took the opportunity with haste.

"Eat liquidated silver, shapeshifter!" Dipper shouted as he blasted his doppelganger in the back. The shapeshifter screamed in a horrifically human voice as a hole was seared directly through its chest, and it collapsed on the floor. The fire in the metal barrel they had been sitting in front of crackled loudly as sparks flew into the air, scattering around him as he fell.

"DIPPER!" Grunkle Stan shouted, cradling the form of his nephew in his arms.

"Grunkle Stan!" Mabel yelled as they charged around the corner. "Get away from the shapeshifter!"

"We'll save you Mister Pines!" Soos bellowed, banging his makeshift shield with his aluminum bat. Viola hid just behind him, peeking out in befuddlement from behind as Wendy charged forward and skidded to a halt, her hatchet half raised as she stared at Stan in confusion.

"Di-Dipper," Grunkle Stan looked back and forth between the Dipper holding the water gun and the one he held in his arms. "Hang in there, little guy...!"

"Guys?"

Everyone's heads turned ins surprise to see... yet another Dipper.

This one had the number four drawn atop his pine tree cap, and he dropped the bundle of newspapers he had been carrying toward the fire.

"... Oh my god," he breathed, pushing everyone aside to get to his duplicate.

Dipper stared in shock at his copy, as if his mind refused to grasp what had just happened.

Grunkle Stan tried to hold him, but the Dipper copy had already melted away to nothing.

"... What the hell just happened?" Viola asked quietly.

"He just..." Grunkle Stan choked, struggling to hold the liquid falling through his fingers. "He just wanted to _talk._ That's-that's all he wanted... he just wanted to _talk_."

The water gun clattered to the floor, and Dipper sank to his knees as the realization hit him fully.

"Num-Number Three...?" the fourth Dipper clone from a year previously stared down at the melted form of his friend.

"I-I didn't know," Dipper's breathes came unevenly, and he felt as if someone had just punched him hard in the gut. "I-I thought all of you guys were...!"

"So..." Viola asked in confusion. "Is there... more than one shapeshifter?"

"That's not a shapeshifter," Mabel's voice was shaking, and she slowly lowered the hockey stick. "Last year Dipper cloned himself. The thing is, the clones all melted because of water. I mean, we _thought_ they all did. That's... one of the clones."

"And what's left of one," Soos pointed out. Wendy punched him in the shoulder, causing him to yelp and rub his arm. "What, dude?"

"Soos!" Wendy hissed. "Too soon!"

"They just wanted to talk," Grunkle Stan repeated, his voice hollow.

"Grunkle Stan, we-we thought that you had been taken by the shapeshifter..." Dipper slowly forced himself to stand, his legs feeling weak. His duplicate did not look at him, and Dipper eventually came to the realization that his copy only had one arm.

"Is this why you left?" Mabel asked quietly, and the Dipper copy hung his head.

"We just wanted a chance to say goodbye," the Dipper clone spoke at last. "I mean, me and Three weren't built to last forever. I'm... kinda surprised we made it a whole year, to be honest."

He rubbed the spot where his arm had once been, awkwardly looking between the group.

"I-I'm so sorry..." Dipper struggled to say as his clone approached. "I-I-I..."

"It's cool, dude," the clone patted him on the shoulder with a kind smile. "Like I said, we never really expected to make it more than a few days. We just wanted the chance to say our goodbyes before... well. Y'know how it is."

"I'm so, so sorry-" Dipper tried speaking again, but his clone only shook his head.

"Listen; don't _fret_ about it, man. You've got bigger things to worry about than a couple of disposables, right?"

"Dude!"

Both Dippers turned in surprise to see Wendy, who dropped to one knee. She put her hand on the shoulder of the shorter Dipper, and a pink color began rising in his cheeks.

"Y-yeah, Wendy?"

"Dude," Wendy said firmly. "Don't _talk_ about yourself like that. Just because you don't see a lot of worth in yourself doesn't mean that it's not _there,_ dude."

"I-I, uh..." the clone rubbed the back of his neck with an awkward smile. "Thanks, Wendy. I... guess I never really got to say goodbye to you and Soos, either."

He gave her a weak one armed hug, and she hugged him back before releasing him, and his smile was even wider than before.

"Mabel, Soos..." the clone cleared his throat, blinking something from his eyes. "T-take good care of Grunkle Stan, alright?" he cast a glance back at the staring man, his glasses fogging up. "He's... he's _super_ old. He's not tough enough to handle everything on his own."

"Heh. Say that to my face, ya little punk," Grunkle Stan wiped beneath his glasses with one finger.

"You make it sound like you're going somewhere far away," Soos said pointedly.

"Nah, don't worry about it," the clone laughed, shaking his head. "I'm just gonna step outside for a minute."

They were left in relative silence for a few moments, and Stan coughed into his hand and wiped his eyes again before standing and straightening his back with a couple of pops.

"Man," Grunkle Stan ran a hand through his hair. "I am seriously getting too old for this."

"SO..." Viola said uncomfortably, glancing outside at the open door. "Didn't you say that those clones melted in water?"

"Yeah...?" Mabel stared at her. "Why?"

Thunder rumbled overhead.

"... No reason."

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A/N

Whoof, it's been a rough couple of chapters. As always, thanks for reading, I really hope you like the story!

… Here's to hoping that the next chapter isn't quite so, uh... depressing. :l


	9. Chapter 9

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"... So," Wendy broke the horribly uncomfortable silence that had fallen over them all after driving back to the Shack where they all took shelter from the pounding rain in the gift shop. "That, uh... was a thing that just happened."

"I can indeed verify," Soos held up a hand as Wendy shook her head free from rain. "That was a thing that happened."

"I'm so sorry," Dipper repeated numbly for the twentieth time. "I'm so, so sorry-"

"Kid," Grunkle Stan put a hand atop his head. Dipper flinched and looked up to him, uncertain. "You did what you thought you had to. Just... sad things turned out the way that they did."

"I-I didn't mean-"

"Kid," he interrupted as he was turning to leave the room, one hand on the wooden support of the door frame. "Little lesson for ya. It doesn't matter what kind of weapon you hold, if you pull the trigger, you've gotta _mean_ it. Try to remember that and... forget everything else. Get some sleep. Soos, Wendy..." Grunkle Stan looked to them for a moment. "... Go home already. You're not getting overtime."

"Understood, Mister Pines!" Soos answered cheerfully.

"Uh, hey, Soos, you... mind giving me a ride?" Wendy motioned out the window at the pouring rain. Mabel noticed an odd look on Wendy's face as she was motioning for him, but it was gone the next moment. Soos readily agreed and soon the two were gone into the afternoon, leaving only Mabel, Dipper and the still utterly silent Viola.

"... So," Viola coughed awkwardly into one hand, shifting from foot to foot as she tried to find a place to put her hands that wasn't her pockets. "Nobody else freaked out that this guy cloned himself?"

"It's Gravity Falls," Mabel shrugged. "We've seen weirder. Like, literal end of the world weird."

"R-right..." Viola edged away slowly, making for the stairs. "I'm... gonna turn in for the night."

Mabel watched her go, turning back to Dipper at last and finding him still standing in the same spot, staring between his feet. She carefully put a hand on his shoulder, lightly, but he didn't seem to notice.

"... Dip?"

"Yeah Mabel," he answered without looking up.

"You... gonna be okay?"

"Yeah. Fine."

"Because you didn't even _try_ to stop Viola," Mabel pointed out.

"Why would I?" he asked quietly, his head still hanging.

"Because you had a ton of questions for her?" she blinked. "Because you're still, like, super suspicious of her? Because we want to find out exactly _what_ Bill has been up to and why he hasn't destroyed the world yet?"

"I'm not sure I even care anymore, Mabel."

Mabel's hand dropped.

"Okay," she ran a hand through her hair. "Okay, wow. This clone thing has gotten you _seriously_ upset if you don't care about solving mysteries-"

"I'm just gonna go to bed, Mabel."

He turned and sluggishly began climbing the stairs, hat low over his eyes. Mabel chewed her bottom lip, thinking furiously. He was _never_ like this; to think that of all things a clone from a paper copier had upset him this badly was mind boggling. Of course, they were just clones. They didn't have things like feelings or anything like that.

… Right?

Mabel fought with this question throughout the night, and she slept about as well as Dipper did.

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Dipper tossed and turned in bed all night.

Rain pelted the roof, and the occasional rumble of thunder awoke him just as frequently as his thoughts did. His dreams came feverish and chaotic. He could hear the echoing sounds of maniacal, high pitched laughter just behind his ears, feel the burning heat in the summer air and the mugginess from the rain felt as though the weather itself were slowly smothering him in his sleep. He fought for decent rest throughout the entire night, but it never seemed to come.

Then, out of nowhere, he found himself lying flat on his back on a beach.

He took a long, deep breath in through his nostrils, the familiar scent of the salty ocean air easily recognizable. He grasped and let go of handfuls of sand as he sat up, staring about at the cloudy gray ocean.

"I've... had this dream before," he heard himself say, but it seemed to come from somewhere outside his body, a little too far away.

"You again, hmm?"

Dipper twisted on the spot, staring agape at a ragged old man in a tattered brown robe, leaning on a warped and gnarled staff. Even with his severely hunched back the wizened bearded man still stood tall, far too tall to be of normal height. His bright blue eyes were as sharp as cut glass, but the smile beneath his white beard was evident. His beard was so large that it seemed to be almost a separate entity altogether, so long that he could have easily tucked it into his belt, if he wore one.

"Uh... h-hi?" Dipper said meakly. "I'm sorry, have we met?"

The man only laughed. It was a rich, melodious laugh that rang in his ears, one that bounced with energy.

"No, I don't believe that we have, child," the old man shook his head. "I cannot fathom a more peculiar place for introductions, though."

"You first," Dipper said suspiciously as he stood, dusting the sand off onto his pants. "I don't even know you, and I've learned not to trust dreams anymore."

"My word, are all children these days as disrespectful as you?" the old man scoffed.

"I'm _not_ a child!" Dipper said heatedly. "I'm thirteen!"

"Of course you are," the wizened man said flippantly, his grin growing. "You'd better dawdle off back to where you came from. It's time to wake up."

"What?"  
"I said,-"

"-It's time to wake up," Mabel shook his shoulders, and Dipper fumbled to push her away. He blinked rapidly and fell out of his bed into a patch of sunlight pouring in through the open window.

"Mabel?" he asked in confusion, the bizarre dream already slipping away into the unknown. "Why are you up so early?"

"You slept through the alarm!" Mabel helped him to his feet, as she was already dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt with a comically positioned opossum holding up a sign that read _Roadkill Cafe_. "I tried to wake you up, like, three times already!"

"Sorry, sorry," he rubbed his eyes, reaching for his clothes so that he wasn't simply standing about in boxers and his tee shirt. "It-it's just... I had this really important dream."

"What was it about?" she paused at the door.

"... I don't remember," Dipper blinked. His cheeks flushed and he immediately felt stupid for even saying it aloud, and quickly motioned for her to continue along her way.

"Let me know if it comes back to you," Mabel shrugged, whipping her favorite device out and pointing it down the stairs. "Yay, faster mode of travel! Go go gadget grappling hook!"

He dressed rapidly and headed quietly down the stairs after the sound of something expensive breaking. He could hear Viola chatting amicably with Grunkle Stan in the kitchen, and the sound of Mabel greeting them as she entered before him. For a few brief minutes, he really thought today might be an uneventful, non-stressful day.

Then one of the windows exploded.

Viola shrieked and ducked underneath the table as a whizzing blue light whirred around the kitchen with the size and speed of a launched golf ball, bouncing and ricotcheting from wall to wall as pots, pans and a calendar were blasted from the wall. It tore a hole directly through the newspaper that Grunkle Stan had been reading and landed with a slightly damp _fwump!_ on the table.

"Is that what I think it is?" Dipper asked in mild shock, pulling out the journal from within his jacket.

"Unless it's a butterfly hopped up on Christmas lights and Pit Cola..." Mabel was practically dancing from foot to foot.

"Oh, great," Grunkle Stan groaned. "Can't go _one_ day without something breaking."

"It's a _pixie!_ " Mabel leaned over the table excitedly. Viola carefully peeked her head up over the edge, staring back and forth between the creature on the table and the others.

"A-a pixie," she stood shakily, warily watching of were she stepped to avoid the shattered glass.

"Need... help..."

Every head in the room turned downward to the lightly blue skinned (and slightly glowing) creature, who upon closer inspection wore a slim brazier and loincloth. Her face was pointed and angular and she had tiny, pointy wings sticking up from beneath her blue hair. One of her multihued wings was bent horribly, and she had one arm pulled behind her back.

"Yech, dump it in the trash can," Grunkle Stan turned up his nose at the miniature woman.

"Grunkle Stan!" Mabel hid the pixie behind her hands defensively. "Don't worry, pretty pixie person! I know CPR!"

"I think you have to clap to heal them," Viola said uncertainly.

"I'm pretty sure that's just fairies," Mabel frowned.

"And you wouldn't wanna save a fairy anyway," Grunkle Stan snorted. "Fairies are just tiny jerks."

" _Guys,_ " Dipper partially closed the book, carefully inspecting the fallen pixie. "Can we focus for just a second?"

"My kingdom..." the pixie gave an uncomfortably watery cough, earning their attention. "Is besieged... by a terrible beast-"

"In dire need of questing heroes of all stripes," Grunkle Stan rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, heard this crap before."

"A beast..." the pixie let out a high pitched wheeze, trembling. "With just... one... eye..."

An extremely tense silence fell over them.

"... Gonna need more clarification on that last part," Dipper said, his face pale.

"Can't hear you," the pixie held up one arm, her eyes closed. "Dying."

"Attempting pixie CPR!" Mabel screamed and immediately began attempting to pump the pixie's chest with one finger.

"Cut-that-out-!" the pixie wriggled free of Mabel between breaths. "Give a dying pixie some space!"

"But-but you can't die...!" Mabel held a hand over her mouth, her eyes beginning to water. "We practically just met!"

"Well, there _is_ one way to extend a pixie's lifespan..." the tiny blue haired woman rubbed her chin thoughtfully with the arm that was supposedly injured, straightening out her wing with her other hand.

"Clapping?"

"Nah, pretty sure that's just fairies," the pixie said. "But if you've got anything with lots of sugar in it, that'll do."

"Uh..." Mabel blinked. "Well, I've got Count Choco-chocolate cereal-" she said as she reached up and pulled a box from the cabinets.

"Nope."

"Super Boo-io Berry Brothers Crunch?"

"Nuh-uh."

"Sugar-o's?"

"Nah."

"Uhm..." Mabel frowned, reaching all the way into the back of the cabinet. "... Expired Smile Dip?"

"That'll work," the pixie rubbed her hands together. Mabel opened the package for her and set it down on the table, and the pixie promptly licked her lips and stuck her whole head into the bag, copious amounts of crunching noises emanating from within.

"... Fascinating," Dipper continued writing in the bound journal, entranced.

"I think you mean 'disgusting'," Grunkle Stan grunted, rolling up the newspaper and prodding the pixie with it. "Never could stand those little monsters."

"There's a pixie," Viola stated numbly, staring at the small blue haired winged woman. "An actual, real, live pixie just broke through the window."

"A window I _hope_ she knows that she's paying for..." Grunkle Stan poked the pixie again. The pixie only pulled her head out from the bag for a brief moment, completely coated in the colored sugar and hissed at him before sticking her head back in.

"Where would a pixie even get money?" Mabel asked incredulously.

"You heard her saying junk about 'my kingdom' and all," Grunkle Stan slowly grinned. "Implying royalty."

"... And?"

" _And,_ " he balked at her. "Implying money! You've got money, right?"

The pixie smacked her lips loudly, licking the last of the sugary treat from her fingers before staring up at Grunkle Stan.

"If I say 'no'..."

"Then I'll crush you like a bug," Grunkle Stan deadpanned, holding up the rolled up newspaper.

"Then yes," she answered without even blinking. "I'm totally loaded."

"I knew it!" he cheered.

"You mentioned something about a beast with one eye?" Dipper pried, curious.

"What, not even going to ask my name?" the pixie put her hands on her hips, belching. "Wow, you weren't kidding, that really was expired. But, uh, no 'why did you break into my house' or 'hey, how's that wing of yours doing'? Man, humans."

"Please forgive my brother, your majesty," Mabel said with a huge grin, pushing Dipper to the side by his face. "I'm Mabel! I'm adorable _and_ super qualified to assist royalty; I'm even an official congresswoman!"

"Please ignore her," Dipper said feverishly, straightening his hat. "My sister is also legally insane."

"That wasn't proven in court!"

"And I'm Dipper," he continued, pretending to ignore her. "The person who wanted to squish you is our Grunkle Stan-"

"What about it?" Grunkle Stan grumbled.

"And that's Viola," Dipper finished, nodding to the tattooed girl. "Still not entirely sure if she's even on our team or not."

"Yeah, real nice, just say it straight to my face," Viola crossed her arms.

"And _I'm_ Mabel!"

"You already introduced yourself, Mabel," Dipper deadpanned.

"I know, but I'm cute enough to warrant double introductions."

The pixie looked between them all as if gauging them, one hand on her chin.

"Very well," she said at last. "You may call me Princess Poinsettia."

"Oh," Mabel's grin slowly enlargened. "Oh my god. You're a petite pretty pixie Princess Poinsettia."

"Do me a favor."

"Yeah?"

"Never call me that again."

"... 'kay."

"And like I was saying, word in the forest is that you're a few humans who have some... _experience_ in solving problems."

"Oh yeah?" Grunkle Stan asked suspiciously. "Says who?"

"Gnomes, mostly," Poinsettia shrugged. "Why?"

Dipper and Mabel groaned simultaneously.

"This doesn't involve peanut butter in any way, does it?" Dipper shuddered.

"I _wish_ my problems were that simple," Princess Poinsettia scoffed. "No, I need your help with something much more dangerous than that. A monstrous, one eyed beast has been devouring pixies, and we need a way to halt it-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Grunkle Stan shook his head. "Nobody's doing _anything_ even remotely dangerous around my grand niece and nephew-"

"We're ready to pay you in solid gold."

"Without _me_ tagging along!" Grunkle Stan jumped to his feet and slapped his knee. "Hot diggedy! Let's get this show on the road already!"

"Dipper," Mabel pulled him to the side, a slow grin beginning to grow on her face. "Do you know what this means?"

"That somehow Bill is wrapped up in this?"

"Not what I was thinking at all," she pulled his hat down over his eyes, and he grumbled. "I mean, we've got a _mystery_ on our hands! Mystery twins, at it again!"

"Don't call us that."

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A/N

Hey all! Thanks for reading, hope you're enjoying the story thus far. Let me know how I'm doing in the comments! :D


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